


Falling Into Love

by JoelAmarez



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (mentions of) minor character death, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternative Universe - Mafia, Angst with a Happy Ending, But I do promise that this will get finished, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, I think because I don't have a concrete definition of pining, I was trying to decide which way I should have gone about this so I ended up having to coin it, I'm just adding these tags as I go, Langst, M/M, Mafia AU, Mafia AU won the toss, Mutual Pining, Pining, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, but oh my stars, but we'll see, enjoy, it's implied that it happened, it's offical, kangst, klangst, kluff (Klance X Fluff), referance to rape/non-con, so much angst will be in this, someone requested something along these lines, this now has klangst, very slow updates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-04
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2018-09-28 06:57:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 15
Words: 43,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10078541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoelAmarez/pseuds/JoelAmarez
Summary: Klance Mafia Bodyguard AUI was trying to decide which way I should have gone about this, so I ended up having to coin it. Mafia AU won the toss. Someone asked for a Klance bodyguard AU, so…Here you go! Enjoy my dears&darlings~Lance is the second heir to the mafia & Keith is his bodyguard. Lance keeps putting himself into situations that endangers his safety and Keith gets really annoyed with it. Eventually annoyance shifts to genuine concern. And after a while, Keith doesn’t mind Lance going on about his day for hours on end. Keith begins to find Lance’s terrible jokes not so terrible. He starts to fall into love and doesn’t realize it until he’s hit rock bottom.This is all a first draft thing edited&beta-read by my beta reader.*IMPORTANT*: Okay so, long story short, I am discontinuing this work. My apologies to those who have stuck with it for so long. I tried to hang on to whatever it was that drove me to create this story for as long as I could, but it fell out of my grasp and no matter how many times I opened and reopened documents, I couldn't write something that I was at the least satisfied with. My deepest and sincerest apologies. I will be moving on to other works.





	1. The New Gaurd with Dark Violet Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> feels. Angst. Will be fluff. Messy emotions. Fights. You'll see it all (that's a lie. There's one thing I can't do yet). 
> 
> Warning: very slow updates. They have been becoming more and more spread out. I will finish this story. Do not worry. I have just enough inspiration and determination to finish this. I don't really like leaving lose ends. Updates become more spread apart either because I'm battling writer's block or I'm very busy with junior year. (Most probably the latter.) 
> 
> Well. Enjoy my dears and darlings.

“But Daaaaad,” Lance whines, “I don’t need a bodyguard.” 

“Yes you do. You have chased off all of your other bodyguards so this time I’m getting you someone around your age.” Alfor rubs one of his temples. The third bodyguard this week came to Alfor asking for a change in position because of Lance. A bodyguard for him never lasts more than a month, at the most. But lately, barely any can last much longer than three days. Hunk would be able to be his bodyguard, but two problems would constantly come up. It’s not that the two are friends, no, Alfor is fine with friendship between Lance and whoever his bodyguard is, that would actually be one of the best scenarios. Alfor’s only two troubles is that poor Hunk would be dragged into whatever trouble Lance would do and that Hunk would let Lance get away with anything. Besides, Hunk is best for doing engineering, Hunk is passionate about it. 

“Wait? Someone my own age?”

“Yes. He’s a few months younger than you.”

“He?” 

“Yes, Lance, he.”

“But still. I don’t need a bodyguard.”

“Lance, with the shit you pull, yes, you need one.”

“What? Okay. Name five times I needed a bodyguard.” 

“Okay. When you decided to take a slingshot and climb up a tree to shoot marshmallows at servants-”

“What, I was fine. I wasn’t hurting anyone,” Lance interrupts. 

“Let me finish. And the tree you had chosen to climb was a Pine tree. So of course you lost your footing half way down and broke your leg.”

“Heh. I remember that. It hurt.”

“Yeah. You’re lucky that’s all you broke,” Alfor glares. “Next. You decide to turn the kitchen into a skating rink.”

“I was bored and wanted to go ice skating!” Lance protests.

“Yeah, and you ended up crashing into counters and tables to stop yourself from crashing into another person, but in doing so, you were covered in bruises.”

“Okay, so maybe a homemade ice rink wasn’t the best idea.” 

Alfor raises an eyebrow and thinks, ‘So now that thought hits you. But not when you were about to do it.’ Alfor shakes his head and continues. “And then the time you snuck into town unaccompanied, which Lance, you need to have someone with you if you leave,”

“I had a disguise.” Lance throws his arms up.

Alfor pinches the bridge between his eyes as he shakes his head. “I’m not even going to go onto what was wrong in that area of this scenario, let me finish. And you walked into a café and started flirting with a girl at the counter and got yourself a broken nose.”

“Yeah. A simple ‘no’ would have sufficed, sheesh,” Lance huffs. 

“Another time, you snuck into the wine cellar. That is all I’m going to say there, unless you want to watch the camera footage again.”

“No!” Lance shouts quickly. “We don’t need to go down that road.”

‘Thank the stars,’ Alfor thinks as he tries his best to forget what Lance was like when drunk. “And lastly, when we were at a peace treaty meeting, you got lost and somehow ended up in their staff’s common room. You flirted with yet, another girl. But this one broke your arm. You’re lucky it healed back stronger and it was still fully functional.”

“It was a clean break. And like I said, a ‘no’ would have been fine. What is it with girls and breaking shit instead of trying to say ’no’ first!?”

Alfor opens his mouth to say something, but then sighs and shakes his head. “Lance. Just please try not to chase this one off.” 

Lance groans. “Fine. I’ll try not to.” Lance smiles suddenly. “It’s not my fault only a select few can handle the awesomeness that is me.” 

Alfor feels that if he shakes his head anymore, his head may fall off. “Lance, when I die, I want you to lower me into my grave.”

“Aww, really?” 

“Yeah, so you can let me down one last time.” 

Lance is about to say something, but is interrupted by what sounds like a stifled laugh.

“Who was that?”

“That would probably be Keith.”

“Who?”

“Mr. Kogane, please step in.”

 

The door opens and a boy around Lance’s age walks in, head hanging. 

‘This is him?’ Lance thinks, placing a hand on his hip. ‘He has...a mullet? What is this? The 1980’s?” 

Keith is shorter than him and has pale skin. He has black hair. ‘It looks soft. I wonder if it is soft.’ 

“Close the door please.” 

Keith nods and does as he was told.

“Lift your head, Keith. Introduce yourself to Lance, please.”

Keith lifts his head and opens his mouth for his introduction, but pauses. 

Lance’s breath hitches. ‘Those eyes…’ Lance stares into Keith’s dark violet eyes. 

Their eyes meet, but Keith apparently too lost in thought to realize. 

Lance smirks and says, “Speechless? Don’t worry, that’s always the first reaction to meeting me.”


	2. That Couldn't Have Really Gone Much Worse. Well, Better Keep Open The Replacement Openings.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith's first impression of Lance isn't too great. Alfor doubts Keith will last longer than two days before requesting a different job.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is short, but I'm still writing the next chapters. I have most of the rough outline finished. And damn. The pining and the slow burn.

Keith waits to be called in. Alfor had left the door cracked open so he could hear his signal. Alfor has just finished listing the fifth reason why Lance needs a bodyguard. Keith hasn’t even started yet and he already doesn’t look forward to it. Two out of the five things were because Lance had decided to flirt with girls. And what happened that was so bad that neither of them wanted to talk about Lance being drunk? Keith goes through how many things that Lance would do just off of what he’s heard so far. Yeah. Keith can see how he wouldn’t want to know. 

Lance must have amazing aim if he’s able to shoot marshmallows at people with a slingshot from the top of a Pine tree. And he has a nice voi- 

Keith cuts that thought off. 

But he also sounds like an idiot. Because really? Where should the list of that begin. Climbing a fucking Pine tree and then inevitably falling. An ice skating rink in the kitchen? What was he thinking? And then also, who in their right mind would let themselves get drunk off their ass? And what idiot would just wander around the H.Q. of the group that they are currently trying to agree on a truces with? And then flirts with a random staff member? 

Keith hears Lance groan. “Fine. I’ll try not to.” then there’s a pause. “It’s not my fault only a select few can handle the awesomeness that is me.”

Keith rolls his eyes and face palms. He tries to prepare himself for this job, but he’s not sure if he’ll be able to handle it. He can only handle so much stupidity. 

Keith hears Alfor sigh again. Keith had not prepared himself for Alfor’s next statement. “Lance, when I die, I want you to lower me into my grave.”

“Aww, really?” 

“Yeah, so you can let me down one last time.”

Keith laughs so hard that he almost snorts. As soon as his mouth had opened to let out the laugh, his hand flew to his mouth to try and smother the inevitable. 

“Who was that?” Lance asks.

“That would probably be Keith.”

“Who?”

“Mr. Kogane, please step in,” Alfor commands.

Keith steps into the room, head hanging. He shouldn’t have laughed at that. 

“Close the door please.” 

Keith nods and does as he was told.

“Lift your head, Keith.” Keith can hear the warmth and kindness in Alfor’s voice. “Introduce yourself to Lance, please.” 

Keith lifts his head and opens his mouth for his introduction, but pauses. 

‘Holy fuck. Dammit, he’s hot.’ Is all that goes through Keith’s mind. 

Lance has dark, flawless skin. His eyes look like an ocean, one that he could stare at all day. He’s taller than him by a few inches. His hair is white and looks fluffy. Keith wonders if it’s as soft as it looks. ‘I almost want to run my hands through it.’

Lance smirks and says, “Speechless? Don’t worry, that’s always the first reaction to meeting me.”

Keith recuperates himself and glares at the second heir. “Tch. I was just wondering how idiotic one would have to be to flirt with a staff member from another group that you’re trying to come to a truce with.”

Lance frowns. “It was a harmless pickup line.” 

“Yeah. And was it so harmless when she broke your arm?” 

Lance glares at Keith. “A no would have been fine. Even a ‘Sorry, but I’m not interested,’ or even the original, ‘Go fuck yourself,’. And you were totally lost in thought over my dashing good looks,” Lance smirks. 

Keith fights the overpowering urge to argue and bites his lip. 

Alfor steps into the conversation to stop any fighting. “Okay boys. Keith, Lance. Lance, Keith. There introductions done. It would be in both of your best interests to not fight considering that now you will be spending all your time together. We have nothing important in our agenda for the next couple of weeks. Just make sure you two don’t kill each other, please.” Alfor inwardly groans. It’s a bad start. This won’t last more than two days. He knows it. He’ll keep some résumés open on his desktop and a resign form on his desk. Alfor leaves the room.

Lance sighs. If he’s going to be stuck with this guy, he should at least try to get along. “Okay, look, I’m sorry. We got off on the wrong foot,” Lance holds out his hand, “let’s start over. Truce?”

Keith looks over, surprised and skeptical. Hesitantly, he grabs Lance’s hand and shakes it. “Truce.” 

That lasted about five minutes before they started yelling at each other and budding heads.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y'all enjoyed it. Let me know what you thought. The next chapter should be up in a few hours. Insomnia. Yay. :) 
> 
> If there's any mistakes, I'll go back to them.


	3. Jackets, Townsfolk, and The Cafe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance decides to go out to his favourite café and Keith disagrees with just the idea of going out to the town. 
> 
> Keith is way to gay for Lance's shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy, I guess.

Keith irritatedly tries to catch up to Lance without dropping the items in his arms. “Lance, get back here! That’s no-”

“Keith, do me a favour and shut your quiznak. And yes, this is perfectly acceptable.” Lance says as he walks down the path. 

“A hat and a pair of sunglasses is not a disguise. You’ll still stick out like a sore thumb, dumbass,” Keith huffs. ‘A hot and handsome sore thumb.’ Keith quickly dismisses that thought as soon as it came and frowns. Lance is such an idiot. He’s careless. How in hell could he be so comfortable just waltzing into town?

“No I won’t, I look fine as hell.” Lance turns his head to face Keith and sways his hips while smirking. 

“I kn-” Keith cuts himself off. He is not going to finish. He is not going to say, ‘I know, that’s the problem.’ He will not give this asshole the satisfaction of letting him know that Lance is undeniably a very hot person. He’ll never shut up about it and Keith knows he’ll never live it down. Keith growls and catches up to Lance. “Could you at least let me do something real quick?” 

“Fine. Hurry up.” Lance stops and turns towards Keith. Keith takes off Lance’s glasses and his jacket. “Whoa, feisty. We could at least go on a date first,” Lance smiles, “but I’m not complaining. I’d be happy either way.”

Keith blushes, but continues anyway. He warps a pastel blue scarf around Lance’s neck, it gently lands on his long sleeve white shirt. Keith then puts a black leather jacket onto Lance. Keith blush brightens a bit when he sees what Lance looks like now. The scarf brings out Lance’s eyes nicely and the jacket matches the hat that he had worn. Keith didn’t help the matter at all. Lance will only be more noticeable. 

Lance smirks. “I must look stunning if just looking at me gives you that cute face.”

Keith becomes flustered. “Sh-shut up! And no, you just look stupid! That’s all. A-and it’s cold outside. I always look like this when it’s cold out!” 

“Winter just started, Mullet!”

“It’s cold outside!” Keith puts on the jacket in his arms to prove his /nonexistent/ point. As soon as he clutches the jacket closer to him, he realizes it was Lance’s green bomber jacket he had taken from him. It’s huge on Keith since his frame is smaller than Lance’s and the jacket had already been a bit baggy on Lance in the first place. The sleeves go way past his fingertips. Lance’s smell fills Keith’s nose. The smell of the ocean and tropical tea. Keith’s blush is practically glowing. He refuses to look Lance in the eyes. Keith rolls up the sleeves to his wrists. 

Lance doesn’t understand why Keith is so flustered. Lance hasn't said anything out of the ordinary. He shrugs his shoulders and continues walking towards town with a quite and flustered Keith in tow. 

Once in town, Keith stays by Lance’s side the entire time. He refuses to lose Lance on the busy streets of town. Lance greets the people who walk past him with a bright smile and a warm hello. The smile upon Lance’s features never falters. The entire time Lance is perfectly relaxed while Keith is, well, the complete opposite. He was on edge and paranoid that one of Zarkon’s men would come out of nowhere and start attacking Lance. Keith would have failed his job within only ten hours of starting. Keith constantly looks over his shoulder to see if they are being stalked and keeps surveying the area for any suspicious activity. Keith stays on guard the entire time. 

“Mr. Emo. Loosen up, would ya? Everything’s fine. The only thing wrong here is the fact that you look like a serial killer could appear from thin air and start attacking.” Lance says to Keith, still smiling at the townsfolk. 

Keith whips his head to look at Lance. “Are you fucking serious? Moron, have you forgotten your position? The importance you have? The fact that yes, it is very possible that a Galra could jump out and start attacking?! Your lack of remembering those very crucial facts is infuriating!” Keith shouts. 

“Mullet, calm down, people are staring.” 

“Calm do-” Keith tries to process the words that just left Lance’s mouth. “CALM DOWN?! Are you fucking serious?!”

Lance looks around and then pulls Keith into a small alley. 

“Lance, listen-” Keith tries to pull his wrist away from Lance, but Lance only pulls his wrist above his head, forcing Keith closer in proximity. “Wha-”

Keith is cut off when Lance blows into Keith’s ear lightly. Keith’s mind goes blank as he shivers. He’s at a loss of comprehension for a moment. Once he gains back thought process, he’s about to yell at Lance again, but Lance cuts him off again. 

“Keith, I come out here literally all the time.” Lance’s expression is blank. “The only way people are going to figure out who I really am is if you keep looking like a paranoid mess. Act natural. It’ll be fine. We’re coming from a few towns over to enjoy ourselves. This town does know of the Alteans, but they’ve never seen any of us so it’s fine. I want to go to my favourite cafes, so calm your ass down. Damn.” Lance sighs and lets go of Keith’s wrist, stepping away. He tilts his head as he waits for Keith’s reaction. 

All Keith can do is glare, but his mood softens as he breathes in the smells from the jacket. He focuses on the smell of tropical teas and the ocean. He calms down his mind, but doesn’t let Lance know that he’s calmed down because of his jacket. Keith growls. “Fine, idiot. But if I see any sign of the Galra anywhere, I’m dragging your moronic ass back to headquarters.” Keith mumbles, “We could be doing far more useful things right now. Like training.” Keith has calmed down a bit more and isn’t as on edge as before, but he refuses to let down his guard. He’s still completely against being out in the first place 

“Okay broody, let's get a move on.” Lance smiles brightly as he pushes past Keith, back out into the busy streets. 

Keith huffs and quickly catches up to Lance so he doesn’t lose him. Lance and Keith walk over to an older building with ivy growing up the walls. Keith steps inside after Lance and complete warmth and welcoming fills him from the atmosphere. Keith takes in the room of the café slowly. The room has a few tables with chairs around them and booths near the windows showing the busy street. There are a few people having conversations with each other at a few different tables. A counter is on the opposite side of the room along with a large display case containing various cakes, sweets, snacks, fruits, and many other delicious looking delicacies that were each carefully put together. Behind the costumer counter is another counter that opens into the kitchen. The air smells like sweets, coffee, and teas. The room is full of pastel colours. Jazz music plays in the background. Keith tries to place the song, but he can’t listen to enough of it before Lance comes back into his vision. 

“Heh heh. Done ogling at the overwhelmingness of this café, Mullet?” Lance cuts into Keith’s thoughts. 

‘It’s bad enough he’s always interrupting my verbal sentences, does he have to fucking interrupt my thoughts too?’ Keith grimaces at Lance. “I was just trying to see if there’s more than one exit in case something happens and this one is unusable, nitwit.” 

“Whatever, nerd.”

Keith clicks his tongue and follows Lance to a booth to sit across from him. Keith watches out the window and bring his gaze back to the door, the only door, every few moments. Something about this situation makes him extremely uncomfortable. This is putting them in a highly unnecessary dangerous position. Keith counts down all the possible things that could go on that would end up with them injured, dying, or dead. 

“Paranoia, calm it. You’re all stiff.” Lance says as he reads over the menu. 

“Stop telling me to calm down, moron. There are over one hundred things that could go wrong. I’m counting them right now.” Keith rolls the sleeves of Lance’s jacket up to his elbows so the baggy sleeves don’t get in his way. 

“Blueberry or strawberry?”

“What?” 

“Blueberry or strawberry. It’s a simple question, Keith. I’m trying to decide which fruit tart I should get.” 

“I don’t know. I don’t care.”

Lance lowers his menu to give Keith a staring saying, ‘Really?’

Keith lets out an annoyed sigh and says, “Blueberry.”

Lance smiles sarcastically and replies with, “Thank you, Keith. Now was that so hard?” 

Keith tears his gaze away from the street to glare at Lance for a moment before return his attention back to the street. 

“What do you want to eat? And would you like tea or coffee with it?” Lance asks as he continues looking at the menu. 

“Not hungry. Don’t have money with me.” 

“Keith. You need to eat something. You’ve been with me since first thing this morning. It’s 3:30. You haven’t eaten. I thought you would be all for getting something to eat to keep your body functioning properly and in full use. Pick something or I’ll order for you,” Lance says as he flips through the teas and coffees. 

“No.”

“Ten.”

“What?” Keith looks at Lance, confused. 

“Nine.”

“I’m fine,” Keith huffs. 

“Eight. Seven.” Lance lowers his menu, again. 

“Are you serious?” Keith stares at Lance.

“Six.” Lance just stares back at Keith. 

“You’re serious.”

“Five.”

“Wait. Uhm. Hold on!” Keith scrambles for the menu in front of him, assuming that Lance will make him eat whatever he gets and will most likely try to choose something that he probably wouldn’t like. 

“Four.” Lance begins to examine his nails. 

Keith hurries to skim through the menu. “Erm. Strawberries.”

“Three.” 

‘Shit. A drink too.’ Keith hurries to find something. 

“Two.”

“Black coffee! Nothing else.” 

“Thank you, Keith.” Lance smiles and puts the menus in their original place then goes to the counter to order. 

Keith huffs in annoyance. 

Five minutes later, Lance returns with the order. He puts a cup and plate in front of Keith. Keith sniffs his drink before taking a sip. As soon as the hot liquid hits Keith’s mouth, it explodes with flavour. Keith would be lying if he said he’s ever had better. 

“Is that a smile I see?”

As soon as Lance says that, Keith scowls. “No, idiot! It’s just… good coffee.” He quickly looks back outside as he drinks more of the wonderfully bitter coffee. 

“They only had chocolate covered strawberries. I didn’t know if you would want them or not so…” 

Keith frowns slightly as he looks down at the strawberries. “Whatever.”

“Okay….” Lance drinks his tea. 

Keith begins to scrape the chocolate off the strawberries while still glancing out the window. 

“What are you doing?”

“I’m lactose intolerant.” Keith finishes getting off all the chocolate before taking a bite. Keith is about to start on the next strawberry when a spoon of blueberries enters his vision and is held near his mouth. “Lance, what the fuck.” 

“I’m not going to let you go hungry. There are three strawberries there. After we’re done here, we can go straight back to H.Q. and have Hunk cook us something. Hunk’s cooking is amazing.”

“But-”

“No buts. Shut up, open up, and eat.” 

Keith’s face glows lightly and he looks anywhere then at Lance. “Idiot.” Keith opens his mouth and Lance puts the spoon of blueberries in his mouth. Lance smiles and continues to feed Keith the rest of the Blueberry tart. 

 

Lance and Keith argue over many things on the way back to headquarters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm about to start writing the next chapter. Let me know what y'all thought. I'll edit shit that I missed later when I find them.


	4. Hover targets, SparBots, and Minior Injuries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone has to meet up for mandated training.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll come back and edit everything (including the summery) later, because I have to leave for school. Enjoy~!
> 
> edit:  
> I'll catch and change other things along the way, but eh.

It’s day three and Alfor is honestly surprised the two haven’t killed each other yet. They haven't had any physical fights, but they argue and bicker over everything. Alfor is even more surprised that Keith hasn’t asked to switch to another task yet. That makes Alfor overjoyed, but at the same time filled with dread. The fact that Keith is still Lance’s guard means one of two things. Keith will actually be able to put up with the shit that Lance pulls or Keith is just lasts a little long than expected and he will come to switch to another task soon. Alfor hopes to the stars that it’s the first reason. Alfor still has the other recruits files open on his computer and the resign form on his desk. He hopes for one thing and is expecting for something else. 

 

Lance, Keith, Pidge, Hunk, Allura, Shiro, and many other of Altea’s members are in the main training deck for mandated practicing. Shiro is the supervisor over the main training deck. Allura and Pidge are sparring and giggling over something in the farthest corner in the room. Keith is training against a SparBot that was designed and created by Allura, Hunk, and Pidge. Lance has his favourite rifle and is practicing with Hunk and his cannon by shooting various moving targets near the ceiling all around the room. 

Keith had made sure that he and Lance were there first thing in the morning. Not long after being waken up by Keith, Lance started fighting with him over when they had to be on the training deck. They had been told to be there no later than 8:45, but it would be preferred that everyone be there as early as possible. So what does Keith do? He drags Lance out of bed at four fucking thirty. Lance was not a happy camper. He’s usually quite the morning person. But not when being literally dragged out of bed at four fucking thirty. The sun wasn’t even up. Lance still can’t get over the fact that Keith literally dragged him out of his bed at four fucking thirty. Lance doesn’t know which is more upsetting. How he was waken up or when. And it’s not like Lance could lock Keith out of his room; they share one. Their beds are on completely different sides of the room. 

Lance looks over at the dark haired boy. He has just beat the fucking fourth level of the SparBot. Like, how fucking even? It took Lance six months to get that far. And here comes Keith who just waltzed in and beat four levels within less than six hours. 

Lance clicked his tongue. “What a show off,” he says as he bullseyes another hover target on the other side of the room, “he thinks he’s so great.”

“Huh. Strange,” Hunk deadpans as he misses yet another target, “sounds an awful lot like someone I know.” Hunk stares at lance thinking, ‘Are you fucking serious.’ Hunk can’t believe Lance. How the hell is he hitting every single moving and flying target dead center yet complains because he sucks at close combat. “Well. Not going to lie, you suck at close combat-”

“Oh. Wow. Thanks Hunk. That makes me feel so great.” Lance looks over towards Keith again as he shoots the complete opposite way and still hits dead center. 

“But,” Hunk continues ignoring the fact that Lance interrupted him, “your sharpshooting is the best I’ve ever seen. Like dude. You haven’t not hit one bullseye. I’m lucky if I can hit one of the hover targets that are within close range.” Hunk fires another missed shot. “And you weren’t even looking at the target you hit one moment ago. Like Lance, how the fuck?” 

“All I have to do is follow and calculate their flight path. It’s not that difficult. Pretty useless, really.”

“How the quiznak can you do that?” Hunk sends a stare towards Lance in wonder.

“At first glance, they look like they’re moving at random, unplanned paces and paths, but after focusing on them enough, the patterns just sort of click.” 

“That’s not what I meant. Pidge programmed over ten thousand flight patterns into these things, are you saying that you memorized all of them and you’re somehow just quickly able to click in your mind which flight pattern all fifty of them are taking while barely even paying attention?” Hunk tries to predict where one of the hover targets will fly next, but he misses yet again.

“That’s how many there are? I stopped counting the number of patterns once I hit one thousand something.” Lance hits another two. “But, yeah. And they’ll change to another pattern and go faster when you hit them.”

“Okay, how the quiznak did you even manage that in two months?” Hunk seriously wants to know because now he’s lost some of his patience and is now just shooting in random directions towards the hover targets in hopes that he hits one. 

“Oh… Haha,” Lance laughs nervously and scratches the back of his neck as he flicks his aim towards another hover target, “I don’t. It’s probably because I get so bored during the mandated training sessions that I just notice some stuff like that I guess. Heh.” 

“Mhmm.” Hunk is amazed at the fact of what Lance is able to accomplish when he actually puts his mind to it instead of just screwing around, but at the same time he’s unamused because of how fucking easy it was for him. And quiznak. Hunk missed. Again. “Ugh.” 

“My sharpshooting might not be half bad, but,” Lance’s shoulder almost look like they drupe as he looks over towards Keith and the SparBot, “...” Lance’s sentence just trails off. “Oh, and Hunk,” Lance perks up and shoots another hover target.

“Hmm?”

“Don’t tell anyone that I know all the patterns, please?”

Hunk looks back at Lance, who is facing away from him. “Okay… If you don’t want them to know, your secret is safe with me.” 

____________________________________

Mandated training ended at dinner, and everyone is exhausted. Hunk, Lance, Pidge, Keith, Allura, and Shiro all go to one of the small kitchen for Hunk to cook one of his masterful creations that are known around H.Q. as a blessing to the taste buds. 

Tonight Hunk had made fruit trays with mysterious and unknown, but still every bit as heavenly, dips. 

Just as they all finish, Coran walks in with reports he had made during that day of their training. “You all did amazing.” 

Whoops and cheers echo throughout the room from most of them. 

“But you all need to work on your team work. That was terrible. Starting tomorrow, you all will report to Training Deck Grey for team bonding exercises. There were a lot of individual work during the team exercises today.” Coran smiles. “So see you all at six tomorrow!” 

A chorus of groans sound off in the room. 

Everyone says their goodnights to each other and depart from the room. 

Keith and Lance walk tiredly down the hall. A few moments of silence pierces through the air before it's broken. 

“What level on SparBot did you reach today?”

“Couldn’t get past level 14. Pidge told me there’s over fifty levels. I probably could have pushed farther, but….” Keith trails off. 

“But what? Is Mr. Hotshot worried that he’ll look like a loser?” Lance smirks. 

Keith turns a deadly glare towards him. “I’m too tired for this shit.” 

Lance and Keith make it to their room without much more trouble. 

Lance yawns loudly. “Well, night Keith!” Lance quickly puts the sleeping mask over his eyes once he’s in his bed and puts his headphones on as they play a lullaby playlist. 

Keith rolls his eyes and slowly makes his way over to his bed. He’s too tired to even continue trying at this point. He flops down onto the bed, flinches from the sore pain ringing throughout his shoulder. The pain doesn’t last long because he is soon over washed with sleep. 

Lance turns off his music and takes off his headphones and mask. He looks over at the boy who is currently dead to the world. He gets out of bed and begins making his way to the door, but stops to look back over at Keith. Lance sighs to himself and grabs an extra blanket that he uses to cover Keith with after taking off his shoes and jacket. 

“Man,” Lance says, “you sleep like the dead. An asteroid could strike the planet and you’d sleep through it. I don’t know what I’d give to have that.” Lance shakes his head as he goes back to the door. He silently opens and closes the door. 

Lance quietly walks down to the training decks. Once on the main training deck, Lance walks over to pick a weapon. He frowns as he chooses a sword. ‘I have to train extra hard if I’m ever going to be any use to Allura once she leads.’ Lance thinks to himself. ‘So what if I’ve already memorized all of the hover targets flight patterns? What are memorized flight patterns for hover targets going to do against the Galra? Rifles and blasters are difficult to maneuver when the target is within arms’ reach. It wouldn’t much matter how good my reaction skills are, while I’m trying to move the blaster fast enough to hit the enemy, they could have already moved behind me and slit my throat. So knowing how to fight in close combat is essential.’

Lance starts up SparBot and begins to start training. “Training Level One.” Lance always starts the training at the very beginning instead of rushing in where he left off. He tried that once. Needless to say, Lance almost shattered his kneecap on the very unforgiving mat of the training deck. Lance has been doing this for years. Practicing more and harder while everyone else is asleep, pushing himself to his limits to try and make himself useful. His close combat has barely improved over the last few years. He’s to the point where he finally doing more damage to the SparBot than himself, but he’s still barely even hitting SparBot. 

‘I’ll train for a few hours then go to bed to at least try to get some sleep at around two.’ Lance has had troubles sleeping for quite a few years. No matter what he tries, he can’t fall asleep. When he does sleep, he only gets three and a half hours of it. 

Lance takes a deep breath and steps forward to initiate battle with SparBot. Clangs of sword against sword echo throughout the room. Lance fights SparBot for hours, but doesn’t get far past level two before he has to stop because of how many cuts litter him. “End training,” Lance pants out as he wipes off blood and sweat off his forehead. He cleans the mess off the floor and the sword before putting it all away and walking back to his room. He takes a shower in the bathroom connected to his bedroom. Under the hot water mixing with him washing himself with soap made out of medicines for the open wounds, Lance has to bite the inside of his cheeks to keep from groaning and waking up Keith. Because that’s just what he needs. Is to wake Keith up so he can yell at him for being stupid enough to try and fight the SparBot when he knows he isn’t good enough to. Lance shuts the water off and steps out. He gingerly dries himself and then wraps himself up with bandages. 

After he’s done dressing his wounds, he checks the clock. It reads “1:30”. He walks over to his bed and curls up under the blankets to get his three and a half hours of sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what y'all thought. I'll be back this afternoon.


	5. Bonding, Fighting, Injuries, and- Wait, Keith, Why Are You Crying?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alfor and Coran lead the bonding training and Keith and Lance get into another fight. 
> 
> Suggestion, tissues. 
> 
> Also. totally on board with the southern Keith thing because I, myself, live in the south.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> But yeah. Please get tissues.

Keith is the first one to wake up. He looks over at Lance. ‘Of course.’ He sighs and starts getting ready for the day of the supposive bonding training or whatever it is they have to do. Keith decides to take a shower for two reasons. One, he’s gross from not taking one before bed, and two, he wants to relief the tension from the week old gash on his shoulder. 

The hot water hurts at first, but it slowly turns to a feeling of lightness. He gingerly washes around the gash and then rubs some of the medicine he was given for it into the wound. Once he’s done rewrapping his shoulder and putting on some clothes, he walks over to begin his attempt to waking up Lance. But before he starts to pull the blankets off the other, something catches his attention. ‘Is that…’ Keith squints and then leans in to get a closer look. ‘Bandages... Those weren’t there yesterday morning. He wasn’t injured during yesterdays training, was he? No, his marksmanship was more than perfect. I didn’t see him get hit once. And he fell asleep before me, didn’t he? Something’s not right here. He was within my sight from the moment I woke up until the moment I crashed on my bed.’ Keith begins to panic. What could have happened between when they fell asleep up to now? 

Keith begins to lightly shake Lance’s shoulder. “Lance. Lance, wake up.” 

Lance stirs and turns away from Keith mumbling, “Five more minutes.”

Keith’s eyes narrow as Lance flinches from turning on his side. “Lance! I need you to sit up now!” 

Lance quick sits up and then glares at the other for yelling in his ear. “Keith. Buddy. Whatever it is, it isn’t a good enough reason to yell in my ear.”

“Would you rather me drag you out of bed? Besides. This very important.” 

Lance snickers, “Oh yeah? What could be so important that you would have to burst my eardrum over?”

Keith points to the visible bandages. “Where did you get those? Were you injured yesterday and refused to tell, if not me, then at least someone else?”

“Oh these? Heh heh, Those have been there for awhile. Last week I had gotten into a fight with a member from one of our rival groups.” Lance starts going on about how he had fought this alleged member of the Valiean Fighters. 

All Keith does is stare blankly as he gets lost in thought. ‘But those weren’t there yesterday, or even any of the few days I’ve been here. Whatever it is, he obviously doesn’t want me to know since he’s straight up lying to me. I’ve lived with a liar before, I know a lie when I see one.... I’ll pay a bit more attention to him today. If he looks like he’s in pain for the slightest moment, I’ll make him stop training. Lance, this is so bothersome. It would just be so much easier if you would just tell me what the quiznak is wrong and just rest for the day.’ Keith lets out a small, annoyed huff. “Why are you like this?” Keith hadn’t meant to say that part out loud. He looks closer under Lance’s eyes. ‘Are those dark circles?’ 

“What? Dashing and strong? Striking fear into my enemies?” Lance smirks over at Keith. 

“No. Always getting yourself into unnecessarily dangerous situations? It’s annoying.” 

“It’s called living, Keith. Hey, maybe if you stopped being so emo and broody all the time, you could try it.”

Keith cuts a glaring look at Lance. “Get ready. We have to be down at the training deck in thirty.” 

Lance sighs overdramatically. “Woe is me.” 

“We will both be in woe by Shiro if you don’t hurry.” 

“Uggghhhhhhh.” 

Keith rolls his eyes and walks out the room to go get a glass of water. 

Once Keith is out the room, Lance frowns. Keith will catch on too easily. He gets up slowly from the bed, pain hitting him in every small movement. He limps into the bathroom and begins to prepare himself for the day. 

 

“Alright everyone, we’ll start the bonding training with a mind melding session with a meditation period to begin with,” Coran begins. 

A very tired Alfor walks in to greet everyone with a yawn. “Mornin’. Coran, you wanted me to help with something?”

“Ah! Yes.” Coran turns to the group “Before we begin, Alfor and I will demonstrate what you will be able to accomplish by working together.” Coran turns to Alfor. “Dearest, will you help me set up the Flying-Fighting Bots?” 

Alfor smiles, “Of course Honey.”

“Get a room, it's too early in the morning for your lovey-dovey shit,” Pidge says. 

Coran and Alfor just smile and set up the FlightingBots. 

Lance can’t help but smile as well. Their loving and soft smiles are contagious. That's what he wants. Someone who he can meet who would love him unconditionally and who he can love unconditionally. Someone to share kisses with. Someone who to cuddle with while watching movies. Someone who he can go out to town with and he could show them off to the world because of how perfect they are. Lance wants to run his fingers through their hair and look deeply into their eyes. He wants to travel the world with them. 

Lance gets lost in thought then gets pulled out of his sweet morning dreams by his fathers’ voices. 

“By the end of our bonding sessions, you should all be able to work together in synchronization.” Coran is holding a handgun and shield while Alfor has throwing knives strapped across his chest and waist while also holding a shield. 

“Now watch carefully.” He taps a button on the screen near him before readying his stance. The Flighting Bots circle them slowly before quickly speeding up their pace. They begin to shoot at Coran and Alfor. The bots are so fast, no one can see which one shot which lazer. They can’t even tell where they are, the bots are all blurred into one floating ring. 

Coran and Alfor move to protect each other quickly. Every time they hit a bot, the bot falls to the ground with a loud ‘clank’. Every shot, every thrown knife, every movement is not made to protect themselves but each other. Not once is it that either one made a move to protect themselves. Every movement was made for the other. Within a matter of just ticks, all the bots laid across the ground and neither one has a scratch on them. 

Alfor rests his arm across Coran’s shoulders. Keith just now notices that Coran has a small build, or Alfor has a larger one. 

“And by the end of our training, you will be able to do that. Whoever you do the best with by the end of all the the training sessions will be your partner when we have to face another group,” Coran says to everyone. 

“I know it looks difficult,” Alfor starts. 

“Difficult? Try impossible.” Lance interrupts. 

“How ‘bout you just let him finish for once, Lance.” Keith throws a glare over at him. Lance is always interrupting everyone. 

“Oh yeah? Well who was the one who had done the most solo activity yesterday, Mullet?” Lance glares back. Lance steps closer. 

“Well, at least I don’t think I’m the best at everything, Moron.” This time, Keith steps closer. 

“Yeah right, yesterday you were being such a show off!” Lance takes another step.

“Bein’ a show off?! How the hell was I bein’ a show off?!” Keith takes another step. 

“Oh I don’t know, maybe by blowing off through 14 levels of SparBot and then acting like it was no big deal!” At this point, they’re budding heads with each other. Lance glares harshly at Keith. Lance knows it’s not his fault that he’s just so naturally gifted at close combat and that Lance sucks at it, but Lance can’t help be get angry at how easy it is for him. 

“Hey now, maybe if you’d just stop starin’ at me when you’re suppos’d to be train’, you’d actually be able to beat it!” Keith yells.

“Wait, do you have a southern accent?” Lance stares at Keith with confusion. 

“Wha-” Keith stutters and stares back in shock. “What the hell does that have ta do with anythin’!?” Keith shouts. 

“Oh my stars, you totally do!” Lance begins to laugh his head off. “Y-you have a southern accent! Oh my stars, this is fucking priceless!” 

Keith’s face begins to glow from embarrassment. “That ain’t important!” 

“Oh my stars. “Ain’t”? This gets better and better!” Lance falls to the ground laughing. 

Keith is shaking from embarrassment and anger. “Bless your heart!” He glares down at Lance. 

Lance’s laugh quiets down as he looks up to Keith, wiping a tear out of his eye. He’s about to say a comeback because he has no idea what Keith meant by his last statement, when Alfor says something. 

“Keith and Lance will be working together during the majority of the day. 

“WHAT?!” They both yell in unison. “ME WITH HIM? NO WAY!” 

“You two may actually make a good team if you would just stop arguing.” Coran says. 

Everyone else holds in their laughter upon seeing these two reacting to the fact that they’re now mandatory bonding partners because of how true Coran’s statement is. 

For the sake of being able to get through meditation and mind melding without any interruptions, Keith and Lance are told to sit on opposite sides of the circle. 

 

After a couple hours of mental and trust training (which Keith failed the latter), Keith and Lance start the physical training. For the beginning, they’re on beginner mode of the Flighting Bots, needless to say they end up failing, but during this part of the training, Keith notices that Lance is having a difficult time breathing evenly. 

‘He can’t be tired yet, yesterday went through smoothly for the entire first half.’ Keith raises an eyebrow. 

“Lance, you okay?”

Lance smiles painfully and says, “I’m mighty alright, I reckon.” 

Keith huff angrily and bites back with, “Fine, asshole.” 

“Okay everyone, pick a partner to spar with. Not you Lance and Keith, you still have to work together.” Alfor says. 

Halfway through their spar, Keith kicks Lance’s feet out from under him and Lance shudders from pain and lets out a small groan. Keith hurries and kneels down next to him. He hadn’t kicked him that hard. “Lance, what’s wrong?” 

Lance huffs, “It’s nothing. It’s not important.” 

Keith stares at him. He’s tired of the lies. Lance is obviously in pain and he’s going to find out one way or another what it is. He stand and helps Lance to his feet and before Lance is able to pull away, Keith yanks Lance closer and tightens his grip, but not harshly. He doesn't want to hurt him more than he already is and considering how much pain Lance is probably hiding, he doesn't want to just add onto what’s there. 

“Wha-” 

“Shut up.” Keith cuts off Lance. “Hey, Coran! Alfor! I’m going to bring Lance with me for a short break, is that alright?!” Keith shouts to them across the training deck. 

“Yeah, that’s fine, take your time.” Alfor waves them off as he continues checking everyone else. 

Keith nods and walks Lance out of the room towards their room since it’s closer than the med bay. 

“Keith, this is unnecessary, I’m fine. We should get back to training.”

“Please stop lying to me. Seven times out of ten, I can tell when someone is lying. And you’re obviously in pain, training would only continue to put strain on what ever wounds you’re hiding,” Keith says as he makes Lance sit on the edge of the bed.

Lance doesn’t say anything as he looks away. 

“Lance. This can work one out of two ways. You take off your shirt, or I do.” 

Lance smirks but still doesn’t look Keith in the eyes. “Someone’s feisty.” Lance laughs, but begins coughing half way through. He brings his hand away from his mouth and it’s Keith who gasps. Lance coughed up blood. Keith looks at Lance’s covered torso, sides, and back and starts to panic a bit on the inside. Lance has some kind of wounds and he is current bleeding out. Keith pulls out his pocket knife and cuts off Lance’s shirt because he doesn’t want him to lift his arms, that would only open his wounds more and cause him to bleed faster. Lance is covered with bandage wraps and cloths. Whatever has been bleeding has been bleeding for quite some time now because the cloths are soaked. Keith wastes no time, Lance looks like he’s about to pass out. Keith pick him up as carefully as he can and runs towards the med bay. 

“‘m fine. Nothing to worry your pretty little head off about.” Lance slurs. 

Delusional. He’s delusional. Keith begins to run faster just to realize one tiny little problem. 

He has no fucking idea where the hell the med bay is. Keith mutters some curses under his breath. 

“Okay Lance, I’m going to need you to tell me where the med bay is, okay? Can you do that?”

Lance laughs. “Oh good. Because I need a bandaid after falling for you.”

“Lance, please!” 

“It’s two rights and then a left from my room, beautiful.” 

Keith bolts back to their room and then follow the directions. He kicks open the door, not having any time to use his hands while trying to hold Lance. He looks to whoever is in the room and says, “Call in Alfor and Coran.” The person rushes to do so upon seeing Lance’s condition. 

Keith carefully sets Lance down on one of the patted tables. 

Lance hums, “Hey beautiful?” 

“What is it Lance?” Keith looks Lance in the eyes and grabs his hand. 

“Are you hurt?”

“Lance, I’m fine.”

“Because that fall from heaven must have hurt.”

“What? Lance, you’re bleeding out and you’re delusional.”

“And you’re an angel.” Lance smiles. Keith is beautiful when he looks worried. His dark violet eyes soften and his cold features melt. Is he crying? Damn, Keith is a cute crier. Why is he crying? Who made his cute body guard cry? Before Lance can ask, he feels himself slipping into the dark void of sleep. Sleep is nice. 

“Lance? No, no, no, no, Lance!” You can’t fall asleep until we know what’s wrong!” Lance hears Keith cry out.

‘But I’m tired. And sleep sounds great right about now.’ Lance tries to stay awake, but he falls asleep by the time he hears footsteps running in and voices calling out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry.  
> I would have had this up sooner, but I became dead to the world at four in the afternoon yesterday because I'm sick and I don't know how to take a break. 
> 
> Oh yeah! And, "Bless your heart", (depending on the context) means, "You're a dumbass". Just a fun fact! 
> 
> Let me know what you think!  
> and come hit me up on tumblr http://joelamarez.tumblr.com/
> 
> And I a few things up on Wattpad (some of which I need to edit) https://www.wattpad.com/user/JoelAmarez#
> 
> Then for my Instagram, facebook, and Twitter, its the same thing as everything else, Joel Amarez, can't miss it.


	6. Worries, Promises, Naps, and Competitons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance has been in a coma for the past three days and Keith hasn't left his side once. Keith is convinced that it's is fault.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, Two chapters in less than half a day. Yay. Enjoy.

It’s been three days since Keith ran into the med bay with an unconscious Lance in his arms. 

Underneath the bandages had been covered in bruises and gashes, both old and fresh. Everyone was at a loss to the knowledge of where they came from. Whenever in battle, it was rare when Lance wasn’t hidden up in a tree taking in a sniper position. So how Lance would have gotten so many close up injuries is unknown to everyone. 

“It’s been three days. Why Isn’t he waking up? The doctor said that his coma would only last two to three days. Why isn’t he waking up?!” Keith has been passing Lance’s bedside all morning. He has dark circles under his head and he’s been restless. 

“Keith, he’s fine, he’ll wake up soon,” Shiro says, standing at the end of Lance’s medbed. 

“Keith, have you- have you slept at all since he’s gone into his coma?” Hunk looks concerned. 

“Dude. You haven’t showered either, you reek,” Pidge says flatly.

“Have you eaten at all Keith?” Allura notices that Keith hasn’t left the med bay at all. 

“Keith, we understand that you’re worried, but I don’t think Lance would want you to just throw your health out the window. This isn’t the first time he’s gone into a coma. He’ll be up soon,” Coran says.

“It doesn’t matter what he would want me to do or not to right now! Lance got injured on my watch! He got hurt and now he’s in a coma and it’s my fault!” Keith reaches up and buries his hands into his hair. “I should have-,” Keith begins to pull at his hair, “I shouldn’t have- I…” Keith looks down at Lance’s arm, unable to look at anyone. 

“Keith. Stop doing that,” Alfor says firmly. “This is not your fault.”

“Yes it is!” Keith shouts. “It is my fault, it was my job to watch after him and make sure he didn’t get hurt and protect him and I couldn’t even do something so simple! Y’all heard the doc, had I not gotten Lance here when I did, Lance would’ve died from blood loss or be in a longer coma! It’s my fault! It’s my fault…” Keith trails off near tears repeating those words. 

“What’s your fault?” Says a sleepy voice. 

Keith’s head shoots up and tries to focus through his tears. “You’re awake!” 

“Yeah, and the sky is blue and water is wet. What else is new, Mullet?” Lance laughs and then coughs. 

“Careful Lance, the doctor said that you had been bleeding into your lungs, as well as many other things. Care to explain how you got these wounds?” Alfor looks at his son worriedly, despite his stern tone. 

“Uhm… May I tell that later when I’m ready to tell that?” Lance looks down at his hands. 

“Under one condition and one condition only.” Alfor says. If Lance isn’t ready to tell him, Alfor won’t force him. 

“One condition?” Lance looks up shyly at his father.

“Yes. Please, for the love of the stars, do not do it again, at least not alone.” Alfor was really concerned over Lance and the only reason why he didn’t do the exact thing as Keith is because Coran talked him into taking care of himself so he would be well when Lance wakes up. 

“Okay. I promise, father. I’m sorry for worrying you. For worrying all of you,” Lance says sincerely. 

Everyone begins to tell Lance about what little had happened over the three days he was asleep. The bonds between Shiro, Pidge, Allura, and Hunk became stronger and they had gone for a walk uptown. 

As everyone talks, Keith takes a seat and rests his chin in his palm, he doesn’t speak the entire time. After a while, everyone leaves after some period of time to go do some activity. Keith stays in the room and before Alfor is the last to leave, he whispers to Lance so only he can hear what he says.

“I think you owe Keith an apology the most, he was more worried than anyone.” Alfor leaves the room after giving Keith a small nod of his head and a silent ‘Thank you’. Keith gives back a small nod. 

Lance looks over at Keith. He looks paler than usually and dark circles stick out boldly against his pale features, his eyes look sunken in. “I’m sorry, Keith.” 

“It’s my fault, I should have been paying attention, I should have been watching you,” Keith says tiredly.

“Have you slept at all? Dude. It’s been three days since I’ve, you know. Have you slept at all?” Lance stares at Keith. 

Keith doesn’t say anything. He stares blankly into an imaginary void. Keith thinks he’s seeing things that aren’t there because, holy fuck, did a lion just walk through the fucking wall? Wow. 

“Keith. Keith, look at me.” Lance snaps his fingers in front of Keith’s eyes. 

Keith tries to focus his eyes. 

Lance sighs quietly. “I am going to assume you didn’t eat, sleep, or shower since I’ve been asleep. C’mon, get over here.” Lance scoots over to make room for Keith. When Keith doesn’t move, Lance loudly pats the empty space next to him as he pulls back the blanket. 

Keith comprehends that he is being offered bed space and he tiredly stumbles over and climbs next to Lance. Lance throws the blanket over him and looks down at Keith’s sleepless features. 

Keith cuddles into Lance’s chest. Lance’s face begins to glow as he shakily puts his arms around Keith. Keith can’t hold his eyes open anymore and he isn’t sure if what’s happening right now is real or not. 

“Lance?”

“Y-yeah Keith?”

“Please don’t ever, ever do whatever in the name of the stars you did alone.”

Lance breathes in. Keith was really concerned. “I promise, Keith.”

“Thank you, Lance. Now stop moving. I’m tired.”

“And who was it that decided not to eat, sleep, or shower for three days?”

“Who was it who puts himself in danger at what seems like every chance they get?” Keith slurs. 

Lance chuckles, “Well, you got me there.” 

Keith hums and begins to snore quietly. 

“So cute.” Lance studies Keith’s features. He was really cute. Like holy shit. Lance begins to feel guilty. Keith hasn’t slept or eaten in three days and it was because he was worried over him. Lance frowns and kisses Keith on the forehead. “I’m sorry, Keith.” Lance is soon dragged into the land of sleep. 

 

Lance is the first to wake up. He goes to move, but there’s a weight on his chest. “Wha-” He looks down and starts glowing. “Oh yeah…” He says quietly. He gets out of the medbed careful not to wake the annoyingly cute Keith on his chest. He picks Keith up and carries him to their room. After Lance lies Keith in his bed and covers him with a blanket. He leaves to go find both of them something to eat. His walking is a bit off, but it’s probably just from the blood loss. He need to be more careful when he trains. And now he has to have someone with him. He feels guilty about going to have someone up with him in the late hours of the night watching him train. But he would also feel guilty for if he would need someone to constantly watch over his back when his sister takes over H.Q. He would most certainly be moved up by the time that comes around and unless he trains more, than his uselessness in close combat skills will get him or someone else killed. As Allura’s second, he will be her right hand man on the battlefield and will have to be right near the line of fire. Lance stumbles into Hunk’s kitchen and perks up upon entering. 

“Hey, Hunk! Buddy!” Lance waves his best friend over to the counter. “Hey, could you whip up one of your delicious delicacies?” 

Hunk chuckles, “Sure thing, Bud!” Hunk starts throwing together a meal. “So I came to come check on you earlier,” Hunk begins. 

“Mhmm.” Lance begins to start humming a random toon.

“And you and Keith looked comfy.” 

Lance stops humming and his face begins to glow slightly. “H-he was tired and needed some sleep. I mean, he looked like shit.” Lance laughs and scratches the back of his head. 

“Mhmm,” Hunk hums pointedly.

“Hey, don’t hum at me in that tone of voice! It’s the truth!”

“Mhmm,” Hunk hums again.

“Ugh…”

Hunk smiles and completes the meal. “Whatever you say, Lance. Here you go. I hope you two enjoy it,” Hunk smirks.

“Yeah, whatever, Hunk.” Lance huffs and leaves the room with the tray of food. 

He walks back to his room and pushes the door open. When he looks into the room as he begins to push the door shut, he sees Keith sitting up in his bed.

“Morning sleeping beauty.” Lance walks over and sits on Keith's bed, across from him. He places the tray in between them. “Eat. You need to or you’ll pass out from malnutrition.” Lance begins to start eating a sandwich. 

Keith looks confused for a few moments before the smell of food fills his nose. He’s suddenly starving and begins to devour his half of the food. 

Lance smiles and begins to eat just as fast. They mutually accept that this is now a competition of who can finish first. Keith wins. He throws his fists up in the air in victory as Lance mumbles. 

“So how are you feeling?” Keith asks shortly after bathing in sweet, sweet victory. 

“Good, and you, babe?” 

Keith stares at Lance for .2 seconds before answering. “Good I guess?” He gives Lance a questioning look. “But really gross. I need to take a shower now.” 

“You mean, after I take a shower, right?”

“No. I don’t. I’m taking a shower first.” 

They stare at each other before deciding to decide who’ll take a shower first by a coin toss. 

“Heads, you’ll go first, tails, I will,” Lance says as he digs out a coin out from under his own bed. 

“Fine by me.” 

Lance flips the coin up. 

It lands in between the two. Heads. 

“So unfair. Two wins in one day? What the hell?” Lance complains.

“It’s called skill.”

“It’s called luck.” 

“Whatever,” Keith says as he gathers some clothes and walk into their bathroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what y'all think.
> 
> I realize that at the end of the last chapter, the link weren't clickable, my apologies, I'll have this whole thing figured out sooner or later. But yeah. On the previously listed social medias, you'll find me under Joel Amarez, you can't miss me.


	7. Shay, Hunk, Photos, and Flusters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance, Keith, and Hunk go visit Shay. Keith and Lance end up getting really flustered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll work on the next chap soon. I have so much to do and so little time. Ugh.  
> This Chapter is a lot of dialogue. The plot will continue to roll forward within the next few chapters and I'll probably beat around the bush about Keith's past. ^_^ Angst will be given...  
> Any way, enjoy~

“Hey, Keith, babe,” Lance starts.

Keith blushes and almost drops what he’s holding. “What is it Lance?

“Want to accompany Hunk and I to the Balmera H.Q.?

“Do I really have a choice?”

“Well you could say no and Hunk would not be able to go visit his girlfriend,” Lance pouts. 

Keith gives him a blank stare. “Like I said. Do I really have a choice? Fine.”

Lance cheers and runs to tell Hunk the great news. Keith sighs and begins to contemplate all of his life choices as he gets ready to leave with the duo. 

 

“Hunk, how long has it been since we’ve gone to visit your girlfriend?”

“She’s not my girlfriend! She’s just a girl of whom I really admire and love as a friend.”

“Soooo, like a girlfriend.” Lance smirks.

Hunk’s shoulders slump. “Not officially, but yeah.”

“Hunk, buddy, you should ask her out. And maybe by then Nyma may have warmed up to me and we could go on a double date, head down to town, grab a couple drinks, you know, the whole shebang,” Lance says as he rests his elbow onto Hunk’s shoulder. 

Keith rolls his eyes and continues to keep watch for any sign of trouble. ‘Stupid Lance. Stupid eyes. Stupid soft looking hair. Stupid smile. Stupid people feelings. Why must feelings and emotions be a thing?’

“And maybe we could get someone for broody over here,” Lance says as he slides his arm over Keith’s shoulder. 

‘Stupid emotions.’ Keith thinks as he begins to blush. “Not interested.”

“What? Why? Is there someone who you’re interested in?” Lance says. 

An images and thoughts of Lance enter Keith’s mind. His smell of the the ocean and tropical teas. The way he looked when he was wearing that scarf and jacket before they walked into town. Lance feeding Keith the blueberry tart and being caring. Lance’s smirk. Lance’s smile. And then images of Lance in pain or dying or being attacked flow into his mind and Keith starts to emotionally distant himself again, pushing any and all previously thoughts of Lance out of his mind. “No. I’m not interested in anyone.” 

“Okay, whatever,” Lance says as he fold his arms behind his head. 

Hunk just gives an unnoticed stare of disappointment between the two. He pulls out his phone and texts Pidge. 

 

Hunk: Hey. Send me those pictures you took. 

 

A few moments later his phone vibrates. 

 

Pidge: What pictures? I am most certain I have no idea what you are talking about.

Hunk: Yes you do. Don’t worry. I won’t use them for blackmail on Lance, I know you have full claim over that usage. I just want to show them to Shay.

Pidge: Okay, if that’s all, then sure. I’ll send ‘em to you to show to your girlfriend!

Hunk: She’s not my girlfriend! ….She’s just a girl that I admire very much……

Pidge: -_-’ 

Hunk: Okay, fine. I like her. There? Happy?

Pidge: I will be once you fucking ask her out. You two obviously like each other. 

Hunk: Who are you? Pidge the matchmaker? 

Pidge: Well actually, it’s usually the Holt Matchers, but my partner in crime has been… unavailable at recent times. 

Hunk: What?

Pidge: You’ll find out later. Here.

Pidge: PHOTOS SENT

Hunk: PHOTOS DELIVERED

Hunk: Thanks Pidge! :D

Pidge: No problem. :D

 

“So, Hunk. What do you think of Nyma?" Lance asks.

“Do you want my honest answer or something that’ll make you happy?”

“Okay, that hurts, but, go ahead for your honest answer. Later once it happens because I didn’t listen to you, you can tell me “I told you so”, and we can move on.”

“Okay. My honest answer. Dude, she’s toying with you. Yeah she’ s nice right now, but I’m telling you, there’s something about her that’s telling me she’s going to hurt you. I think you should stop flirting with her.” Hunk looks up from his phone.

“And this is the part where I ignore your advice and just keep flirting with her, right?”

“Yeah, usually.”

“Guess what. I’m not going to flirt with her. You’ve been right about every other person we’ve met, you’re most likely right about Nyma too.”

Hunk stares at Lance with surprise. “Well that’s new. Lance, are you sure you’re feeling alright?”

“I’m fine Hunk,” Lance laughs. “But you’re right. I had thought it was just me, but her laughs began to sound more and more empty every time she made them. I mean, her friend, Rolo, was a pretty cool guy. Him and I are buds. Don’t we have a ball to attend at their H.Q. soon?”

“Yeah, in a few days actually.” Hunk says.

“Hey Keith, have you ever been to a ball before?” Lance looks over at Keith.

“Hn? What?” Keith had been too busy making sure nothing would happen to be paying any attention to the conversation. 

“Have you ever been to a ball before?” Lance repeats.

“Yes,” Keith says after a moment. 

“Great! I can’t wait.” Lance says happily. 

 

The trio in primary colors continue to the Balmeran base. 

“Hunk!!!!!” Yells a girl from the entrance of the headquarters. 

“Shay!!!!!!!!” Hunk bellows back. 

They laugh and run towards each other and end up rolling on the ground in a hug as they giggle. 

Lance laughs as he runs to catch up with Hunk. Keith hurries after him. 

“Hehehe, I missed you two! How’s Allura and Pidge?”

Hunk chuckles. “They’re doing fine. Still playing pranks and other stuff on everyone. Allura had her first solo peace treaty meeting a few months ago and Pidge has been creating all kind of things. Shiro has been an amazing chief of military so far.” 

“That’s wonderful! Huh? Lance, is this your boyfriend or something?” Shay tilts her head to the side and Hunk lets out a choked laugh. 

Keith goes to say something, but Lance beats him to it. 

“No, no, no no. We’re not boyfriends. This is Keith, my new body guard.”

“He’s younger than the rest of them. How long has he been on the job?” She asks, studying Keith. She stares into his eyes and he blushes a little because he’s never been stared down before. He looks to the side. 

“This would be day eight.” Lance says after thinking it over. 

“Lance. If you hurt him, you’ll be sorry,” Shay says finally tearing her gaze from Keith to Lance. 

“Wait, wha- Why in the name of the stars would I hurt him? He is legitimately the third sweetest person I’ve met behind you and Hunk! Yeah, we have a lot of differences and disagreements, but Keith is like a cinnamon roll who shouldn’t be caused any harm,” Lance says. 

Keith’s face begins to glow and he tries his best to hide it. 

“Oh! And Keith has this adorable southern accent! It’s priceless!” Lance smiles remembering the event from a few days ago. 

“Lance, y’aint funny..” Keith has his face buried in his hands. 

“See! Isn’t adorable! When we argue, I can’t stay mad at him for long because he’ll start retreating back to it,” Lance gushes. 

Shay raises an eyebrow and whispers to Hunk, “Are you sure the red one and the blue one are not dating?” 

Hunk laughs quietly, “I’m sure, but they’re totally pinning.” 

“I would have had to call you blind if you denied that part.” Shay smiles.

“I think those two are the only blind ones.” Hunk smiles back. 

Lance and a very flustered Keith are playfully wrestling in the tall grass. From Hunk and Shay’s viewpoint, Lance had easily pinned down Keith, but he quickly stands up with a light red glow across his face. He walks over to Hunk and buries his face in between his shoulderblades. “Huuuuunk. Help me.” 

Hunk laughs. “Nope, you’re all on your own here, buddy.”

“Some wingman you are,” Lance hisses quietly. 

Keith walks back over with a bright blush. He sits next to Shay and doesn’t spare another word the remainder of the time. After a bit, Lance, Hunk, and Shay begin to catch up on what they’ve missed over the period of not meeting face to face.

 

As they’re leaving the Balmeran grounds, Hunk asks Keith and Lance to wait while he goes to back to ask Shay something. 

Keith and Lance are developed into an awkward silence. 

‘He looked so cute. He had been laughing and the light pink colour on his face and how the grass stuck out from his hair. And then how his eyes began to dart any where but at me like he was embarrassed. His lips looked so soft. Why is Keith so adorable?!’ Lance is currently internally screaming. 

‘Lance was weird for a moment. After he had pinned me to my back, he just stared at me. I didn’t know what to do other than avoid eye contact. Then he suddenly just stood up and hid behind Hunk. It was so awkward, I didn’t know what to do.’ Keith replays what happen. ‘Ugh, why must people be so complicated and make things difficult with emotion?!’ 

Hunk runs back, smiling widely. “She said yes! Shay and I are dating now!” 

“That’s great Hunk!” Lance says. 

Lance, Hunk, and Keith walk back to Altea Headquarters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what y'all thought. Leave a comment, kudos, what ever. Hit me up on my other sites and what ever. Love y'all. ^_^
> 
> And yes, I will make this painful and slow.


	8. Hey Keith, What Happened Before You Were Here?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After returning from the Balmeran base, everyone had to go into long hours of training.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y'all enjoy. I'll work on the next chapter Friday. There's so much I have planned for this story.

Lance, Keith, and Hunk made it back to the Altea headquarters in time to make lunch and then be told they would have to train for the rest of the day for a mission they’ll have to do in a few weeks. After long hours of mandated training, everyone is in a common room talking to each other and shooting the shit. 

Lance comes running in and says, “Guys! Wanna hear about something that just happened?”

A collective groan sounds throughout the room. Another story about how Lance just flirted with a girl or how he saw some type of drama happen before him or something stupid. “No, Lance,” many of them say. 

Lance laughs and goes on anyway, “So I was talking to Rolo and he said that he was probably going to get bored at the ball in a few days and he may drop out early or show me a new fighting technique. He also said Nyma may join us, he said she hasn’t stopped talking about me. With these looks, who could resist?” Lance runs a hand through his hair as he smirks. 

Most of the ones who had been listening answer back with, “Anyone could.” 

Lance lets out an exaggerated huff and says, “You’re just jealous.” 

“There you are Lance!” Yells a voice from the doorway. Keith comes into view. “Lance, you need to stop just rushing out of my sight.” 

“Heh, sorry you couldn't catch up with me, shorty,” Lance cranes his neck down to meet Keith at eye level just to prove a point. 

“Long legs, you’re like three inches taller than me, at the most!” Keith puffs out his cheeks as his fists clutch together by his sides. A light scarlet glow crosses his cheeks. 

Lance sighs, “Babe, I’d say at least four.” Keith starts sputtering and suddenly can’t look Lance in the eyes. Lance raises an eyebrow and becomes confused as everyone else begins to snicker. ‘What? I didn’t say anything out of the ordinary.’ Lance tilts his head as he tries to figure out why Keith suddenly became a stuttering mess and why everyone else is snickering at it. 

“W-whatever, Lance. C-c’mon now, we should go n’ take a shower… Not together! Separately. Alone. Without the other. We’re disgustin’ from walkin’ over yonder n’ then trainin’ as soon as we g-got back.” As Keith keeps going on, his accent grows stronger and he uses more southern slang into his speech. 

‘Now it’s almost like he’s speaking a different language,’ Lance thinks. He shrugs and starts walking back to their room. Keith stops babbling and walks along with him silently. 

“So do you want to flip a coin again to see who’ll take a shower first?” Lance says, trying to start some type of conversation. 

“I’m good. You can go first,” Keith says meekly. 

Lance shrugs. “Okay, whatever you say.” 

They reach their room and Keith goes to burry his face into his pillow. ‘Maybe I can smother myself to death.’ That theory is shot down by the natural instinct for air as he breathes it in after lifting his head. Instead, Keith stares at the wall near his bed.

Lance gives Keith a questioning look as he gathers his things for the shower. 

Keith’s mind begins to wonder. From his time with his father to being dropped off with them to being rescued by the blade to when his résumé was quickly accepted by Alfor after it had only gone through Altea’s screening once. Now that Keith thinks about it, it had probably been Alfor himself who screened it. On their way to Lance’s room that morning Keith started his job, Alfor had told Keith that he should keep his upbringing a secret since not many people know of the blade and the few who do are still in question of it. Keith knows that he has to be careful with everything he does. One mess up and he could be the one who kills the alliance between the blade and the Altean. Keith owes his life to the blade for what they did for him, so he’s willing to risk everything he has left to be the one to strengthen the ties between the two groups. 

Keith is so lost in thought that he doesn't hear the shower shut off. 

“Hey Keith,” a voice says. It's Lance. 

Keith looks over and is about to say something to Lance, but he is quickly knocked speechless. Keith’s thought process hits a flat line. 

Lance is standing on his side of the room shirtless. His body is toned and he has quite a bit of muscle. His shoulder blades are sharp and his waist is slim. ‘His wounds closed and healed extremely quickly,’ Keith thinks as he continues to gaze at Lance’s back, then at his side and his chest. Lance’s voice brings Keith out of his daze. 

“-eith. Keith.”

“Hn? What is it?” 

“The shower is open, space cadet.” 

“Oh, uh, yeah. Thanks.” Keith blushes and quickly grabs his towel as he rushes into the bathroom. 

As Keith is washing his hair, his mind goes back to wondering. The Galra, the Blade of Marmora, the Altea, the Balmera, the Valie, the Olkari, the Arusian, everyone. There’s so many solid alliances that the Altean have built. The Alteans are diplomats. They only resort to violence when they have no other choice. ‘Hah. How the hell did Kolivan think it was a good idea to have me as the one to be the one to make or break the alliance with the Altean?’ Keith thinks as he laughs to himself. Keith understands that because he isn’t a full Galra, that he doesn’t have their distinct looks and features like purple hair and glowing yellow eyes and pointed teeth, but that doesn’t mean he would be the best choice. Yes he may look the part do go in undercover and build up, but he can’t act the part. The person in Keith’s position would have to be calm, patient, level-headed. Basically the exact opposite of Keith. They would have needed someone who would have a higher chance of not screwing this up. It’s not that Keith doesn’t want to be here, he’s not complaining about being here. After what the blade did for him, he owes them everything, it’s just… Keith isn’t the one they should have chosen, there’s a high probability that he will mess up the blade’s chances at forming an alliance with the Alteans because of his hotheadedness and how temperamental he can be, that and Keith still refuses to trust anyone. Why would Kolivan choose to send him here knowing that? Even Keith knows that an Alliance without trust is a oneway ticket to That’s-Going-To-Crash-And-Burn-Ville. ‘I can’t screw this up. Why can’t I let myself trust them? I know they aren’t going to hurt me. I need to trust them.’ Keith rests his forehead against the shower wall, trying to ease his mind and let himself trust. 

Keith winces and stiffens. Some of the shampoo had flown down into the gash on his shoulder. He doesn’t know how the hell Lance was able to heal so quickly with so many wounds while he he is with just one recent wound that isn’t even that recent. He’s been here... eight days? Yeah. and he went through the trial two days before starting here, so he’s had this gash for ten days and it still hasn’t closed all the way. 

Keith sighs and reaches up to grab the tube of medicine. ‘Not much left, I’ll have to ask Alfor if he can ask Kolivan or Ulaz for more,’ Keith thinks as he opens the almost empty tube of medicine. He squeezes out what’s left and begins to rub it into the laceration on his shoulder. 

Once the water runs cold, Keith shuts the water off and dries off. He goes to grab his clothes, but he is crossed with a slight problem. 

He forgot to grab a clean set of clothes.

‘Fucking dammit.’

Keith sighs and wraps the towel around his waist. ‘I hope Lance is asleep or getting water or something,’ Keith thinks. 

He cracks the door open and doesn’t see Lance in the room. Keith breathes in and is washed over with a small wave of relief. He crosses the room to his dresser and begins to search through it for some clothes.

Keith is in the middle of searching when hears a gasp, a shattering of glass, and the sound of fluid splattering. He swirls around in alert and sees Lance making his way over to him in a hurry. At first Keith panics and tries to see if he can escape, but is quickly stopped when Lance grabs his wrist and start talking. Keith is more taken aback from Lance’s words more than anything. 

“Keith! What happened? Are you alright? Did someone hurt you?” Lance begins asking questions a mile a minute as he examines Keith’s shoulder, his eyes laced with worry and concern.

“I- It isn’t- It’s-,” Keith can’t form an explanation. He can’t tell Lance what actually happened and he doesn’t want to lie because not trusting can be one thing, but straight up lying would kill any chance at an alliance. Keith stutters and looks anywhere else other than at Lance. 

“Keith.” 

Keith stops babbling. 

“Look at me, please.” Lance’s voice is filled with concern.

Keith breathes in deeply and looks into Lance’s eyes. 

“What happened?” 

“I- I can’t… I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?” Lance’s voice is still concerned, but hurt and a little bit of anger mixes in. 

“Because I was told not to,” Keith didn’t mean to say it the way he did, he regretted how he said it as soon as Lance flinched away from his words. He had said them coldly. “I’m sorry, Lance, I didn’t mean to say it like that.” Keith looks away from Lance again.

“It's alright Keith, but can you tell me how old it is? It looks pretty new.” Lance lifts Keith’s chin so he’s looking at him again. 

“A couple days before starting here.”

“And it still hasn’t healed?” Lance sounds surprised. 

“It’s probably because I wasn’t using as much medicine as I was supposed to when ever I applied it,” Keith says as he hold up the empty tube of crushed herbs. “I ran out and I’ll have to ask Alfor if he could get more.” 

“Where would he get more from? These herbs are rare and don’t grow around here,” Lance says as he examines the contents label. 

“Uhm. I can’t exactly answer that either.” Keith switches his weight to his other foot. 

Lance perks up suddenly and Keith leans back slightly. “Then let's go! The sooner you get what you need for it, the sooner it can heal!” Lance grabs Keith’s hand and begins to make his way across the bedroom to the door. 

“L-Lance, wait! I need to get some clothes first!” Keith begins to glow as he tries to skid to stop Lance. 

Lance turns around and looks at Keith. A blush crosses Lance’s face as he realizes that all Keith is wearing is the towel hanging loosely on his hips. “O-oh. Yeah, I guess that would be helpful.” Lance lets go of Keith’s wrist and Keith walks back to the dresser. 

Keith is about to start changing when he sees Lance still staring at him. “Lance.” Keith’s blush intensifies. 

“W-what?” Lance’s attention snaps to Keith. 

“Could ya turn ‘round, please?” 

“O-oh yeah.” Lance’s face heats up more as he realizes he’s been staring at Keith. He turns around quickly. ‘Keith is not cute. Keith is not hot. Keith is not fucking adorable,’ Lance keeps repeating in his mind. 

A fully clothed Keith walks back into Lance’s view. 

“After we come back, we should clean that up,” Keith points to the previously dropped glass of water. 

“Yeah,” Lance agrees. 

 

The walk down to Alfor’s office was awkward. Both were still flustered over the event before hand. 

Once at Alfor’s study, Lance knocks at the door. “Dad?” 

“You may come in,” is muffled through the thick door. 

Lance enters the room with Keith in tow. 

“Yes?”

“Keith needs to ask you something,” Lance says. 

Alfor looks towards Keith. 

“Sir, I ran out of the herbal tonic.” 

“Herbal tonic?” Alfor raises an eyebrow. 

“Yes, for, you know, erm…” Keith looks to Lance from the corner of his eyes back to Alfor. “For my injury. From the…” Keith trails off hoping Alfor will pick up. 

“Ah yes. I remember. I’ll ask him during the next meeting, until then make sure it doesn’t get infected.” Alfor goes back to organizing papers. “And don’t worry Keith, you’re doing fine so far.” 

“How did you-” Keith stares at Alfor in shock. 

“He told me you may have certain worries and concerns.” Alfor continues to put away papers as he speaks to Keith. “I know that you had volunteered for several jobs that I had open, but I put you with this task for many reasons, Keith. Don’t worry. I trust you Keith. Take your time, after what happened, I know it’ll take you awhile to be able to do the same. It’s alright. No one’s rushing you, okay?” 

“Yes sir.” Keith bows his head. 

“We can continue this talk later if you need to.”

“Thank you, sir.” 

“You two may go, and thank you Lance for bringing that to my attention.”

“Sure thing…” Lance looks between Keith and his father confused. 

 

The two depart from Alfor’s study to return to their room. Once back in their own room, the clean up the mess and get ready for lights out.

“Hey Keith?” Lance looks over at Keith who’s already in his own bed. 

“Hmm?” Keith hums tiredly. 

“Who’s ‘he’?”

“Prohibited information, Lance.”

“Is ‘he’ your leader or instructor or something?” 

“Lance, what part of ‘Prohibited information’ was not clear to you?” 

“I want to knoooow,” Lance whines. “This curiosity is gonna kill me.” 

“I might tell you later, once and if I have permission to share that information, okay?”

“Okay! Goodnight, Keith.”

“G’night, Lance.”

Keith falls asleep into quiet snores and Lance stays up all night thinking about how much he doesn’t know about Keith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what y'all thought and let me know if you saw any mistakes I over looked. 
> 
> Hit me up on tumblr, facebook, twitter, wattpad, or instagram. JoelAmarez. You'll see me. :)
> 
> I have so much planned after this story. I just don't have the time to be able to do it all, but just you wait, you'll see me everywhere one day, it'll just have to take time. I'll go places and become someone, it'll just take time.


	9. Keith, Stick Around Me, and I'll Teach You Every Meaning to the Word "Living"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance stays up all night. Keith and Lance have many adventures in and out of town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of slow burn/build, the usual. And this was going to be two chapters, but I had no idea where to part it, so it's just one mega chapter. 
> 
> Holy shit. I swear these chapters are getting longer and longer.

Lance hasn’t gotten sleep, but he has made a discovery. 

Keith is a sleep talker. 

Lance giggles at the fact because most of the sentences don’t even make sense, that or Keith is trying to say multiple sentences and just doesn’t know which one he wants to say out loud. 

It’s fucking adorable. Lance didn’t notice until this night because every other night he was restless, he would just have his face mask on and his earbuds in all night.

The first time Lance heard him do it, he thought Keith had actually woken up.

The second time he realized that it’s because Keith is a sleep talker. 

The third time, Lance had to bite back a fit of laughter. 

The fourth time, Lance moves closer so he could hear him more clearly. 

The next few times, Lance had just listened quietly.

It is now about to be the twentieth time, and Lance decides he’s going to see if Sleep Talker Keith can carry out a full conversation in his dreaming state. At this point, there’s a little puddle of drool on Keith’s pillow and Lance thinks it’s one of the most adorable things. It’s gross as hell, but oddly adorable at the same time. 

“Hmmm… Lance…” Keith slurs. 

“Yes, Keith?” Lance grins to himself. 

“Has anyone ever told you….how good looking you are?” Keith mumbles in his sleep. 

Lance’s face glows a little. “N-not really. I mean, not often. W-why do you a-ask?”

“Because ya are….N’ ya smell nice too….like the ocean n’ tropical teas….your scent is very….welcomin’...” Keith’s voice carries away back into his dreamscape. 

‘Abort mission, abort mission!’ Lance thinks to himself. His face feels hot. Lance runs to the bathroom and closes the door quietly. 

He washes cold water in his face and around his neck. 

‘He’s just having a weird dream,’ Lance thinks to himself, ‘that’s all. Just a really weird dream.’

After Lance cools off, he walks out of the bathroom, crosses the bedroom, and slips right into the hallway. 

‘I’m cooled down,’ Lance tells himself. ‘I’m cool. Who needs to cool down?’ Lance walks into an abandoned part of the base and out to a balcony. ‘Not me. I’m all cool. I’m the coolest,’ He thinks as he yells out to the sea below him. 

“Okay. I’m good now. I’m all good. Got that out of my system,” Lance starts saying to himself. “Keith was just dreaming. He didn’t know what he was saying. He probably didn’t even mean it.”

Lance breathes in deeply as he walks back into the building. Lance wonders around the building until sometime around 3:40. He slips back into their room and lays in his bed. He stares at the ceiling as his mind files over thoughts. His curiosity about Keith’s life before joining the Altea has grown. 

Lance thinks about many things. His parents, where are they from, which one of them are southern, are they both southern, do they own a farm?

Lance pictures Keith working around a barn and taking care of the animals and then working out in the fields. He imagines Keith wearing tattered blue jeans, old barn boots, and a patched up flannel with the sleeves rolled up and the first few buttons undone because of the summer heat. The image makes Lance’s face heat up and he buries it into his pillow. 

What were his parents like? Wait. Did Keith even know his parents? Where did Keith train? What did he like to do? What’s his taste in music like? What foods does he like? What’s Keith’s fondest memory? Does Keith have anything that he’s insecure about? Is there anyone that he misses? Anyone that he loved? Does Keith like to read? What sports does he like? Has Keith ever kissed anyone?! Is Keith a coke or a pepsi person? Does he like stars or clouds? Cats or dogs? Is he afraid of anything? How did he get that wound? 

Lance’s stomach lurches at the thought. 

Who is ‘he’? Why can’t Keith tell him? What is it that Keith and his father are trying to hide from everyone and why? 

Lance is dragged out of his thoughts by the sound of rustling on the other side of the room. 

He looks over to have his sight greeted with a sleepy Keith. His hair is a mess and sleep outlines his eyes. 

“Morning, Sleeping Broody.” Lance snickers as he gets a pillow thrown his way. Lance throws the pillow back at Keith and laughs. “I think we should go out to town today. It's beautiful outside!” 

Lance receives a groan in reply. “Lance. Give me two minutes to wake up first.”

Lance smirks mischievously and stalks over. He hops onto Keith’s bed and starts tickling Keith’s sides. 

Caught off guard, Keith tries to fight back but it’s too late. He is at Lance’s mercy as he is helpless to stop the other from tickling him. 

“St-...ahahahha, Lance stop- hahaha- stop it!” Keith falls into a fit of laughter and tears begin to form in the corner of his eyes.

“Never!” Lance yells. “This is revenge for waking me up four fucking forty in the morning almost, what? A week ago?” Lance grins and continues tickling the helpless Keith. Keith’s shirt has lifted slightly up, exposing a strip of skin from his hip to his rib cage. Lance has to tear his gaze from it and look at Keith face as he’s tickling him. Doing that didn’t help. Keith’s eyes are screwed shut as tears of laughter escape from the corners. Lance has made a new discovery: Keith has dimples. Keith is laughing so much, the sound of his laughter has filled the room. Lance wants to listen to the sound for a little while longer, but Keith’s voice breaks him back to reality. 

“La-Lance! Hahahahhahaha, Stop, I-I- Hahahaha…. Can’t br-breathe!” Keith is gasping for breath in between fits of laughter. 

Lance stops tickling Keith and gives him a worried look. While Keith is gasping to regain his breath, Lance asks, “Are you alright Keith? Did I hurt you? Oh gosh, your shoulder- Is it alright? I’m so sorry! I-”

Keith regains regular breathing and interrupts Lance’s numerous of questions with, “I don’t remember the last time I laughed so hard that my sides began to hurt.” Keith sits up and leans his forehead onto Lance’s shoulder. “Thank you, Lance,” Keith giggles. 

“You...don’t remember the last time you laughed like that?” Lance thinks that over. How long does it have to be for someone to forget when they laughed so hard it hurt? 

“I probably could if I tried, but the last time I laughed like that, I had been with my father. That was so long ago…” Keith trails off. “So, you had said something about going to town?” Keith asks, trying to change the subject. Keith Lifts his head up to look Lance in the eyes. 

“Oh yeah!” Lance remembers. “There’s some places in town I want to visit!” 

“Okay, let me get ready. How long have you been up?”

“All night,” Lance answers nonchalantly. 

“Lance! So you’re telling me, you did not sleep at all?” 

“Mhmm! I’ve only ever needed three and a half hours of sleep, I usually can’t sleep more than that. It’s not uncommon for me at all to miss a night here and there of sleep.” 

Keith raises an eyebrow. “Lance. You need to sleep.” 

“Who was it that didn’t sleep for three days even though I was fine?”

“Being in a coma is not the definition of ‘fine’, Lance.” 

“It may not be your definition.” 

“Lance. You need to sleep.” 

“How about this. While I show you around town, tell me about yourself, and we can both go to sleep once we get back.” 

Keith sighs. “Fine.” 

 

On their way to town, the two continued to fight over the issue of sleep. 

“Lance, you need to get onto a regular sleeping schedule!”

“Keith, I’m telling you, I’m fine, I’ve survived seventeen years of this sleeping schedule so far, haven’t I!?”

“Okay, sure, but it's a miracle you haven’t collapsed from exhaustion within any of those years!” 

“I’m fine, mullet, stop telling me what to do, you’re not my mother!” 

“I may not be your mother, but it’s my job to watch over you and secure your safety and health, idiot!” 

“Pff, whatever, screw you!” Lance crosses his arms and turns his head away from Keith. 

“Well, screw you too!” Keith mimics Lance’s actions. 

They continue the walk to town in a heavy silence between the two. 

“Hey Lance!” One of the townsfolk greets the ocean eyed boy. 

Lance smiles and proceeds to have a conversation with the girl. 

Keith stands to the side, becoming more annoyed when Lance begins to flirt with her. 

“Hello, there.”

Keith turns his attention to the voice. A teenage girl with raven hair and yellow eyes gives Keith a mischievous grin. Her choice in clothing leaves little to the imagination. 

Keith stiffens. “Hi.”

“Why do you look so upset deary? Is your boyfriend over there flirting with other people?” 

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Keith replies, trying to keep an eye on Lance while making sure the woman doesn’t try anything. Keith crosses his arms and leans back against the brick building behind him. 

“Oh? That’s nice to hear,” the girl runs a hand through her hair and gives Keith a seductive smile, “that means you’re ripe for the picking?”

“No.” Keith becomes uncomfortable as the girl leans into him. He notices now that she’s taller than him. 

“Is there someone else then?” 

“No.” 

She leans in closer to Keith so that she’s whispering in his ear. “Then I don’t see the problem, deary.” Keith flinches as she pushes her knee in between his legs.

“I’m not interested. Please back away.” Keith tries to push her off without hurting her, but she pushes Keith with more strength. She moves him deeper into the darkness of the alley. 

“Oh come on darling, just a bite won’t hurt anyone,” she smirks as she bites down on the space of skin between Keith’s collarbone and neck. 

“I said ‘no’,” Keith growls. He tries to push her off, but he underestimated her strength. She pins his wrists to the brick wall harshly. Keith sucks in a breath as a jolt of pain goes through his shoulder. She begins to travel a hand up his shirt. Keith is about to yell for Lance, for anyone, but she must have noticed. She pins both of his hands above his head with one of hers and uses the other to muffle his yells for help. 

“Just let me have my fun, I’m about to show you something great.” She continues to kiss and bite down on Keith’s neck. 

Keith tries his best to struggle back. He keeps kicking and trying to free his wrists. He screws his eyes shut. He doesn’t want to keep looking at her. This feels gross and wrong. He’s on the brink of tears when he is suddenly dropped to the ground. 

“Oh come on, he isn’t yours, besides, we were just having some fun, Lance.” He hears her say. 

“Leave my sight and don’t ever even think about looking at him again.” Lance’s soothing voice makes it’s way into Keith’s ears.

“Tch. Whatever, buzzkill.” Keith waits until he can’t hear the clicking of her heels to open his eyes. 

Lance helps him stand up. “Did she hurt you? Are you alright Keith?” 

Keith doesn’t know whether to be happy that Lance helped him or mad at him for not staying within each other’s sight. Before Keith can stop himself, he tackles Lance into an embrace and begins to cry into his shirt. He breathes in the smell of the ocean and tropical teas, the smell of Lance. “Thank you, Lance. I didn’t want to have to relive a moment l-like that.” Keith’s voice breaks and Lance’s eyes widen. 

Keith’s words echo through Lance’s mind. Lance wraps his arms around a very shaky Keith, pulling him in closer. “I’m sorry I let you leave my sight.” Lance runs his fingers through Keith’s hair. He can feel Keith shake his head slowly as he calms down. 

Keith sniffles as he tries to pull away from Lance. Lance keeps one of his arms around Keith’s waist, holding him close. Keith doesn’t fight against Lance’s hold, he’s grateful for Lance doing so. Keith wraps his arms around Lance’s midsection as Lance walks them from the back of the alley. Lance wipes away the stray tears away as they step out onto the street.

The morning sun is still rising and the day is still young. Lance wants to do the best that he can to make this day better than how it had started. 

Lance smiles as he leads Keith over to one of his most favourite breakfast diners. It was very old fashioned and it had recreated something that’s similar to a jukebox. A selection of three songs for half a dollar. 

“Hey Keith, what music do you like?”

Keith raises an eyebrow. “Is there a reason for the sudden question?”

“Just give me the name of a song that you would love no matter how many times it played.” Lance smiles. “Bonus if it’s something that most people would find annoying after awhile.” 

“Hn…. “We Built This City” is one I enjoy.” Keith says. 

“How 1980’s of you.” Lance smiles. 

“So what? The centuries of 1900 and 2000 were great.” 

“Babe, that’s wonderful. Oh! Have you ever listened to Set It Off?” 

“Oh really now? I didn’t know you enjoyed music from that time period.” Keith smirks.

“It was a bright time for music,” Lance smiles. 

Keith giggles. “Yes, I have listened to Set It Off.” 

“Okay, and can we just agree that Justin Bieber was overrated?” 

“Oh my god yes. I felt like I needed to wash my ears out with bleach after listening to “Never Say Never”.” 

“What a wonderful taste in music you have.” Lance smiles.

“I could say the same to you.” Keith smiles. 

“Last time I blared “Love You Like A Love Song” throughout the base, Pidge said the 2000’s called and they want their music back. And Hunk, the traitor, agreed in saying, “Pidge is right Lance. It’s 2264, let Selena die.” Like, what the quiznack? This is some good quality music.” 

Keith nods in agreement. “Yeah, they don’t know what they’re missing.” 

“We’re here!” Lance throws one arm up to the diner’s sign, keeping his other around Keith’s hip. “The Retro Diner! They have some of the best breakfast foods here. And! They have the recreation of a juke box. Three songs for half a dollar.” Lance steps away from Keith to open the door. He holds out his arm and smiles. “Shall we?” 

Keith smiles and wraps his arm around Lance’s. “Yes.” They walk in and Lance leads Keith over to the music box. Lance starts punching in quite a few selections of “We Built This City”, when Keith stops him somewhere around the sixth time. 

“Hn?” Lance says as he looks over to Keith. 

“Let's put in one “Any Way You Want It” by Journey.” Keith’s smile is full of mischief. 

Lance smiles back. “I like the way you think.”

Lance punches in the song before going back to placing in another fourteen selections of “We Built This City”. 

They walked over to a booth in the far corner as they look at the menu, they hear the first one play. They're sitting on the same side of the booth as they tell the waitress their order. Once done, they watch and wait. 

By the second go round, most people haven't picked up on anything and the two get their drinks. 

The third play starts up and people are starting to catch wind of what’s happening. 

The fourth play starts up and now everyone knows. The staff have this indifferent expressions as if this happens at least once a week, which it probably does. Keith and Lance continue watching the entire diner as they start eating their breakfast. 

They're staring at this one woman once they near the end of the fourth play and she’s staring at her mug as she tries to contain her anger and it looks like she just got her four month chip from anger management. The fourth play fades out. It's dead quiet. Then it starts up again. 

“We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll.” 

The woman bangs her fist in the table and everything on it goes flying everywhere and Keith buries his face into Lance’s shoulder to keep from laughing out loud. Lance snickers. 

The sixth play fades out. 

“Any way you want it, that's the way you need it, any way you want it.” 

A sigh of utter relief flows through the diner. Keith and Lance finish their meal and pay their bill. 

And then. Keith and Lance smirk to each other as the song comes to an end. Everything is silent. 

Then suddenly, “We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll,” and everyone fucking loses their shit. 

Lance and Keith laugh their heads off. 

“Ahem,” a familiar voice clears his throat. 

Keith and Lance look over to find Shiro looking down at them with this look of disappointment painted across his face. 

Lance smiles innocently and says, “Hi Shiro, how are you?” Keith snickers. 

“I don't know. How about you ask the rest of the diner.” Shiro frowns at the two. 

“Aw, c’mon Shiro. We're just havin’ a lil fun.” Keith smiles up at him. 

“Uh-uh.” Shiro shakes his head. “Do I have to give you two a lecture on how to act in public or are you two just going to blow this joint?”

Lance and Keith respond by walking out. “It was nice seeing you, Shiro!” Lance waves back. 

Shiro sighs as the diner doors close. 

Matt walks over and puts his arm across Shiro’s shoulders. “So this was their doing?” 

“Yep.” Shiro holds back another sigh of disappointment of the two. 

Allura wraps her arm around Shiro’s midsection. “I'm not surprised that Lance was behind it, but Keith? Wow. I would've thought he would be the one to get annoyed at Lance and chew him out for it.” 

“The world is full of surprises,” Shiro sighs. 

 

Keith and Lance giggle to each other as they sprint down the sidewalk. 

“What next?” Keith smiles. 

“I’m going to introduce you to the rudest and meanest man in town. He runs a convenient store not far from here.” Lance says as he places his arm across Keith's shoulders. 

Keith raises an eyebrow. “Any particular reason why?”

“You’ll see. It'll be fun though,” Lance winks. 

Lance turns them into a building and it's full of aisles. Lance removes his arm from Keith and walks over to the counter. “Good morning Mr. Gisen! How are you?” 

“Ugh. I was great until you walked up in here with that annoying voice of yours.” A man with wrinkles and grey hair sits on the other side of the counter reading a newspaper. 

‘But his voice is beautiful…’ Keith frowns slightly. 

“Haha, nice one Mr. Gisen.” Lance laughs as he begins to walk up and down the aisles. 

“Shut it, boy, you talk too much. Always running that big mouth of yours…” Mr. Gisen mumbles on. 

Keith follows Lance and sees him slip a few things off the shelf into his jacket. 

“Lance, what are you doing?” Keith hisses quietly. 

“Relax, babe, it'll be fine.” Lance winks at Keith. 

Keith glows and can't seem to argue back.

“Mr. Gisen, how are your children doing? And your grandchildren?” Lance asks sincerely. 

“That’s none of your damn business,” he replies as he flips the page of his newspaper. 

Lance and Keith finish circling the store a few times before departing. “Have a nice day Mr. Gisen!” Lance gives him a kind smile. 

“Just get out. Your sweetness is sickening.” The old man waves him out. 

They walk a few stores down and Keith pulls Lance into an alley. 

“Lance, what the hell?”

“Don't worry about it Keith, I won't get caught. The camera has been dead for years.”

“That doesn't mean you should steal from him!” Keith whisper yells. 

“It's not stealing, I'm just good at acquiring things that don't belong to me.” 

Keith gives Lance an unimpressed expression. 

“Don't worry, he's the only one I do it to and it's just practice incase I need that skill in the future.” Lance smiles to Keith. 

“If you say so…” It still didn't feel right. 

“Hey, You! Stop Thieves!” 

“Run,” Lance says as he grabs Keith’s hand and begins to run down the back alleys of town. Keith huffs and runs faster, getting ahead of Lance. 

“I told you this was a bad idea!” Keith yells back towards Lance. 

“Technically, you just didn't completely agree with it, you never said that it was a bad idea!” Lance points out. “Besides, this isn't really the time to be talking about this!” 

Lance was right. Keith has to get him away from their chasers. Luckily, they probably haven't seen either of their faces since the booked it as soon as the person yelled. 

After what seems like half an hour, Keith had gotten them both lost and worn out from all the running and turning into random other alleys. 

Both of them collapse to the ground. Their chests are both heaving. 

“We….ain't….doin’....that……EVER again!” Keith breathes out between gasps for air. 

“Okay, okay….agreed.” Lance huffs out between breaths. 

“Now.... ‘Fore we do…..any other…..brilliant idea you come up….with, I'm gonna tell ya, we also ain't doin’ anythin’ that could put ya in danger.” Keith sighs as he lays down on his back. 

“Fine. Heh….Heh heh…..Hahahahha!” Lance goes into a fit of laughter. Keith sits up and stares at the other. 

“Are you goin’ into hysterics?!” 

“Hahaha, No, I'm- Haahahahahhaah, I’m not going into hysterics. Pffft. That just felt amazing! I don't remember the last time I've had that much excitement with another person. Hahahhahaha! It was…. It was exhilarating!” Lance looks at Keith and gives him the brightest smile. And starts laughing again. 

Keith looks in shock. This boy is beautiful. “Well… I guess it was kind of fun…” 

“Haahahahahahaahh! See Keith? That- that was living!” The other continues to laugh. “Stick with me baby, and I’ll show you each and every meaning to the word!” Lance says as he wraps one of his arms across Keith's back. 

Keith smiles. It was kind of thrilling now that he looks back on it. “Hehh. Heh heh.” Keith is soon enveloped into fits of laughter along side Lance. 

Their laughter dies down and they realize they had gravitated into their backs and they're staring up at the clouds that float high over the towering buildings around them. 

They lay there in a comfortable silence for a while. 

“Do you ever wish you could just sprout wings and fly?” Lance asks as he reaches a hand up. 

“Yeah.” 

“The morning is still young.” Lance rolls over on his side to look down at Keith. “Alas, how shall we spend our final hours of freedom before being dragged into ball preparation tomorrow?” Lance sighs dramatically. 

Keith fucking snorts and if that isn’t the most adorable thing. “Lance, you love the attention you’ll get at that ball, don’t try to lie to me.” Keith giggles. 

“Heh, you’re right.” Lance sits up and stretches. “But really, how are we going to spend our last day of freedom? Going-to-a-hosted-ball preparation is pain. At least with hosting-a-ball preparation, you can sneak out for a few hours of fresh air while everyone is busy trying to get the ballroom ready and set up.” 

“Hn… I don’t know. What do you usually do around here for fun? Other than torment the morning diners and steal from cranky old men.” Keith smiles over at Lance. 

“That depends, babe, how much living are you up to doing today?” 

Keith begins to stand up and stretch. “Let’s just walk around town for a bit, then I’ll probably have an answer for you by lunch.” 

Keith holds his hand out to Lance to help him up. Lance happily takes the help up. “Okay, and while we walk around town, I can get to know The Mysterious Keith Kogane a bit more.” 

“Sounds like a plan.” Keith lifts Lance to his feet. “So, uh. Do you know where we are?” Keith scratches the back of his head. “I kind of just ran and let my gut instinct take over. I have no clue where we are.” 

Lance chuckles. “I’ve been wandering these alleys for since before I can remember, Kogane. Of course I know where we are.” Lance begins to lead Keith through the maze of alleys. 

Once almost to the sidewalks and streets of town, Lance stops and puts his jacket onto Keith’s shoulders. “Here, so whoever was chasing us probably won’t be able to recognize us.” 

Keith glows as he smiles lightly. He pulls the jacket in closer and his nose becomes filled with Lance’s calming scent again. “Yea, that’s actually a good idea.” Keith gives Lance a bright smile and Lance clutches his heart, he can feel it being shot. This boy is too much. 

They waltz around the streets exchanging things about each other. Lance tried asking about Keith’s past and upbringing right off the bat, but all he got was, “Prohibited information, Lance.” So, he decides that it can wait till later and start with the small things. 

So far, Lance has learnt that Keith’s two most favourite colours are blue and most pastel colours, which he honestly was not expecting at all, he told him that his favourite is red and most dark colours. Yet, Keith wears red and Lance wears blue. Moving on. They’re both in love with space. The endlessness of the universe and the secrets it holds. One of Keith’s fondest memories is when he was a few years younger, he would watch the sunset, the stars slowly move over head as the moon leisurely crossed the night sky and how some of the clouds could still be seen in the distance, and then eventually the night would turn to a golden morning sun rising. Lance loves those nights and declared that one night, he would take Keith to a spot he goes to watch that. So they could enjoy it, together. One of Keith’s favourite books is one that Lance has read about a thousand time already. “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton. They talked about other books that they’ve read. The Percy Jackson series, The Hunger Games, Shakespeare's works, Harry Potter (they’re both in Gryffindor), and quite a few others. Lance found out that they both share a liking towards baseball. Lance had asked Keith if he was a Coke or Pepsi person, and he got “tea” as an answer. Lance laughed at the reply. They both share a love for cats. 

After awhile of playing twenty one questions, they near a place to settle down for lunch. 

“So I said, “If you can't handle it, then go do something that you can actually complete,” and he got so mad that he just left without another word. I'm pretty sure he was mad at me for a week straight.” Lance finishes telling Keith a story. 

Keith laughs and says, “Well, you were right.” 

“I know, right!” 

The two finish their lunch and Lance pays for it. 

“So, you finally decided how much living you want to do before we get trapped into endless preparations tomorrow?” Lance crosses his arms behind his head. 

“I guess whatever you have to throw at me. What would you want to do?” Keith looks at Lance with curiosity. 

Lance smirks and grabs Keith's hand. “I was hoping you'd say that.” Lance begins to run, a surprised Keith in tow.

They reach the end of town and Lance uncovers a hover cycle from a bundle of bushes. 

“Is this it?” Keith asks as he looks at the hovercraft with amazement. 

“Nope. This is just how we’ll get there. The actual thing we're going to do will be far more exciting.” 

Keith gets giddy. “Sounds great! Let's go.”

Lance smiles and hands Keith a helmet as he puts one on himself. Lance gets onto the hover cycle as Keith puts his helmet on. Keith gets on the hovercraft and wraps his arms around Lance’s mid section. 

“Make sure you hold on tightly.” As Lance says that, Keith tightens his hold. Lance smiles and sends the hover cycle flying in the direction of the destination. 

The feeling of the wind whipping up around them is nostalgic. The wind flows into them and through their veins, making feel like they're a part of the wind. It's the feeling of freedom coursing through their blood. Keith begins to laugh and the sound becomes lost in the wind and into Lance’s ears. He smiles. ‘Just wait until he gets a load of what we're going to do,’ Lance thinks to himself. 

He slows to a stop and takes off his helmet. They're at a cliff and he can feel a strong gush of wind coming up from below. He smiles. He hasn't been here in so long. 

“What's here? All I see is a cliff that makes it look like the land is floating above what ever’s at the bottom.” Keith observers as he too takes off his helmet. 

“Watch this.” Is all Lance gives in reply as he makes a run for the edge and jumps. 

“Lance, wait-!” Keith yells in shock. 

Lance falls downwards, the feeling of gravity pulling him down, and then he starts rising back up towards the cliff. The air current is strong enough to lift him up. He floats higher and higher and then lands on his feet back at the top of the cliff like a feather. He smiles at Keith’s utterly shocked expression. 

“Come, let us live!!!” Lance yells as he grabs Keith’s hand and runs for the cliff. Before Keith can react in time after processing what was happening, Lance had already pulled him off the edge of the cliff and jumped. Keith yells at first, but it turns into laughter. They begin to float back up and Keith's hair whips around everywhere. Once landing, his hair is a mess. 

“That was- It was- wow!” Keith yells. 

“Amazing?” Lance smiles. 

“Yes! It was thrilling! At the beginning, the gravitational pull downwards made me feel heavy, but then the air current began lifting us up and I felt weightless! That was- it was exciting!” Keith is at a loss of words, but he tries to continue on anyway. 

Lance chuckles as he watches Keith struggle to try and create words. “Wanna go again?” 

“Hell yes!!!” Keith’s face is flushed from the wind and he smiles widely with a wild glint in his eyes. Lance loves it. 

They have competitions to see how far down they can make it before the air current picks back up to bring them to the cliff. 

The cycle of heaviness and weightlessness continues for hours. They finally become tired and decide to go back to the base. 

 

They get back in time for dinner and Alfor calls them into his study. 

“Keith, I was able to have him send me a refill this afternoon. Here,” Alfor hands Keith a tube of herbal remedies, “have Lance apply it when you take your shower under the hot water. He knows how much medicine to properly apply to a wound. It should be closing itself within the next week if he does so. But I'm afraid you'll have a scar there for the rest of your life.” 

“Yes sir, thank you.” Keith bows and leaves the room with Lance. 

They return to their room and get ready for a shower. Halfway through getting his clothes together, Keith’s face begins to glow. He has to take his showers with Lance now so he can apply the crushed herbs to his wound. The entire time, Keith's mind is going haywire, Lance is ineffective from the fact. 

Once in the shower, Keith can't look Lance in the eyes. 

“Hey, want me to go ahead and shampoo your hair?” Lance asks as he finished washing himself. 

Keith is able to manage out a “Sure”. 

Lance has Keith sit on the shower stool as he begins to scrub his hair. Lance scratches hard and deeply into Keith’s scalp. Keith closes his eyes and relaxes. He leans into Lance’s touch. 

As Lance scrubs Keith’s scalp, he can feel Keith loosen up, but then he starts to purr? Wow. That's...strange, but not that Lance is complaining. He doesn't say anything about it because he’s enjoying it. 

Lance rinses out the shampoo and scrubs conditioner into Keith's hair. 

“All that’s left is to put the herbal medicine into the wound.” Lance smiles kindly. 

He reaches up and grabs the tube. Lance has Keith stand so he can rub it in. He begins apply it, making sure not to miss a spot. After applying the herbs, Lance gives a feathery kiss near the laceration on Keith’s shoulder. “For good luck to help it heal faster.” Lance says. He doesn't notice the fact that Keith is blushing brightly. 

They dry off and get ready for bed, Lance taking the longest because of his skin care treatment. 

“Hey Keith?” 

“Hn?” 

“Can we push our beds together?” 

“Wha- what? Uhm. Why?” 

“I don't know. For some reason, I'm just able to sleep better when I'm closer to someone.” 

“O-okay. Fine.” 

They push Keith’s bed over to Lance’s and turn out the lights. 

“Goodnight, Keith.”

“G’night, Lance.” 

Both fall asleep within moments.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what your thoughts are and if I made a mistake that I over looked. ^_^
> 
> Come back next chapter for the preparations and the ball!
> 
> Oh! And I'm a co-author with a friend of mine on a story. It's a mermaid au.


	10. Learning How to Trust, Ball Preperations, & a New Enemy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance have to get ready for tomorrow's ball. Just read to find out. I'll probably fix this summery later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I decided to split this original chapter into two, so this is the preparations and the next one will be the ball. I'm working on the next chapter now. So. Lots of Keith angst in this. Feels. Emotions. Pining. Slow burn. Slow build. The usual.

Keith yawns and focuses his eyes. The first thing he sees his Lance’s sleeping features. He smiles slightly. ‘He was right, he does get better sleep when he’s closer to someone else.’ Keith’s eyes drift over to Lance’s hand and he stares at it, getting lost in his own thoughts. 

‘I need to learn to trust others more. I need to learn how to trust again. If I don’t, I will kill the blade’s chances at building an alliance with the Altea. I know that Alfor is alright with me taking my time on this and that he can understand it if I don’t let myself place one hundred percent of my trust into them, but not everyone else will be as kind and as understanding as he is with it once they learn about the reason why I’m here. If they find out or if we tell them, they’ll still know that I don’t trust them and that would reflect back on the blade and no one here will trust them. I am the representation of them, if I don’t learn how to trust, the blade won’t be able to succeed in bringing down Zarkon’s tyranny over the bordering countries. I know that if the blade were to join with the Altea and it’s allies, the chances of the Altea defeating Zarkon would boost, but the Altea need to see mutual trust to agree to making an alliance. They’ll already hate me because of who I am, I don’t need to have lack of trust with that.’ 

Keith slowly moves his hand closer to Lance’s. ‘Come on, come on, trust them, trust him.’ 

Keith’s hand becomes shaky as he feels the heat radiating from Lance’s hand. ‘No. Kogane, trust him. He won’t-’

Keith jerks his hand to his chest and holds it there before he can stop himself as he breathes heavily. ‘GOD FUCKING DAMMIT. WHY WAS THIS SO EASY YESTERDAY?!’ 

Keith growls. “Why can’t I just trust them, dammit!” 

Lance stirs and Keith covers his mouth. ‘Fucking...urgh!’ Keith lets tears of frustration roll down his face and squeezes his eyes shut. 

“Keith?” Lance’s soothing voice flows softly into Keith’s ears. “What’s wrong?”

Keith doesn’t open his eyes and shakes his head. With a raspy breath, he gives out an actually reply. “It’s nothing.” 

“It’s not ‘nothing’, Keith, you’re crying. Something’s bothering you.” 

Keith feels something touch his face and he flinches backwards, and ends up falling off the bed. 

“Keith!” Lance jumps off the side of the bed next to Keith. 

Keith growls as he looks up at Lance. “I said it’s nothing!” 

Lance flinches at Keith’s harsh tone. Keith moves his glare to under the bed, away from Lance.

“Keith… Is it- Is it alright if I touch you?” Lance asks quietly. 

Keith doesn’t say anything, but he does give a small nod. 

Keith stiffens as he feels Lance pick him up. Lance sits on the bed and puts Keith in his lap. He rubs circles into Keith’s back and Keith slowly relaxes and rests his head onto Lance’s shoulder. Keith still refuses to look Lance in his eyes, feeling bad for snapping at him. 

“Do you want to tell me what’s wrong?” Lance leans his head on top of Keith’s. 

“...” Keith doesn’t respond. 

“Was it a nightmare?”

Keith shakes his head. 

“Did someone do or say something to you?” 

Keith stays silent. That’s part of why he was like that, but it’s not the main reason. Keith shakes his head. 

“Were you thinking of something that makes you upset?” Lance begins to run his fingers through Keith’s hair. 

Keith nods his head. 

“And you don’t want to talk about it?” Lance pulls away slightly to try and look at Keith. 

Keith gives another nod. 

“...Can you tell me about it later?” Lance wipes off the dried tears on Keith’s face. 

Keith waits and thinks for a moment. He shrugs his shoulders. 

“Okay, I can wait.” Lance brings Keith back against his chest and Keith calms down a bit more. 

Eventually, the two decide it's time to get ready for the day ahead of them. 

Right after breakfast, the two get measured and then are sent off to choose colours, designs, and styles of clothing. 

Lance has them get corresponding clothing, the difference being in the colours. Lance’s is going to be blue, silver, and white while Keith's is going to be red, gold, and black. 

Keith and Lance are discussing plans with Coran and Allura when a few people catch his attention from the corner of his eye. One of the squadrons are whispering to each other and pointing to Keith and it honestly makes him really uncomfortable. He stiffens and suddenly feels like he shouldn't be here. He keeps his expression passive and stays facing the way he is.

He adjusts his ears to see if he can pick up on anything they're saying. 

“...I don’t know. There’s just something off about him. Like he’s always hiding something,” One of them say. 

“I understand that. It’s something about him. He’s always- just so- like he’s on edge all the time and doesn’t let his guard down for a moment unless he’s with Lance,” another one adds on. 

“But isn’t it his job to be on guard?” A third questions. 

“Yes, but this is different, It’s like he doesn’t trust anyone. How should I leave my trust in someone with the second heir when they can’t even try to look like they trust me? I honestly don’t know why Alfor took someone like that in so quickly,” a fourth voice goes on. 

“What was he thinking? How can he trust the life of his only son in the hands of someone so inexperienced, young, and untrustworthy? It’s almost like his body language is screaming, ‘I don’t trust anyone here,’ and I don’t like it. He shouldn’t be here if he doesn’t trust us. I can’t and I won’t trust someone who doesn’t trust me. Everything about this guy makes me dislike him. From the way that he holds himself to how he’ll very rarely speak to anyone outside his squadron, and he’s always arguing over something with Lance, like yes, I get it, Lance says a lot of things that are not agreeable, but seriously? I rarely ever see them have a normal conversation that doesn’t lead into an argument. When it comes to Lance, the guy doesn’t know how to hold his tongue.” Keith stiffens as the fifth voice continues. “And isn’t suspicious that we don’t have any records of his past in the databases? I went to get his files because something isn’t right here. And when I got there, there was nothing on his history,” he continues in a hushed whisper. 

“If his files aren’t there, then that means that Alfor has them in his study. What is so important that it has to be hidden from us?” One of them ask. 

“I don’t know, but I’m-” 

Keith feels someone touch his hip. He squeals and punches the person on instinct. 

“Ow! Damn!” Lance scrunches his nose around. Blood begins to trickle from it. 

“Lance!” Keith panics. “Are you alright? I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to- I’m sorry!” Keith rushes to check Lance’s nose. “Oh god- It’s bleeding, you’re bleeding.” 

Lance chuckles as he pinches his nose and leans his head back. “It’s alright Keef. Tis but a bit of blood. I’ll be fine.” 

“But-” 

“It’s fine, I’m fine, Keef.” Lance grabs a stripe of cloth from the disposal pile and wipes off the blood. “See? Nothing to worry about.” 

“But I-”

“You spaced out and I didn’t realize that, don’t blame yourself, okay? I’m not hurt.” Lance gives Keith a softening smile. 

“If you say so…” Keith trails off and looks away. He tunes his hearing back to the other group. 

“Tch.”

“See? He shouldn’t be here if he’s not ready to trust anyone. Maybe he shouldn’t ever be here for that matter.” 

“Mhmm.”

“He can’t be trusted.” 

“I see what you guys were talking about.” 

Keith hangs his head down more as he walks away with Lance, Coran, and Allura. 

Alfor walks up to the group after awhile of them having been doing the preparations. 

Alfor touches Lance’s shoulder to get his attention. “Lance, may I borrow Keith for a few words?” 

“Yeah, sure.” Lance turns to Keith. “I’ll wait for you at the doors of the main kitchen for lunch.”

“Okay.” Keith watches Lance walk off and then turns to Alfor. “Sir?” Keith’s mind goes to the conversation he overheard. ‘He’s going to tell me I’m not doing well and cut me loose, which would mean…’ Keith gulps and pushes the rest of that thought aside. ‘The pending alliance between the Blade and the Altean will end and the Blade will be disappointed in my failure to represent them.’ Keith continues to drown in his thoughts until Alfor speaks up. 

“Keith, after what happened with the Galra, I really don’t expect you to be able to trust anyone for a really long time. Trust is something that cannot be forced. It has to come through naturally. If you keep trying to force yourself, you’ll only end up blaming yourself for everything. Please, take as much time as you need and just start with small things first. After what happened, you shouldn’t force yourself into trusting someone.” Alfor talks to Keith in a sweet and soothing voice, though it’s firm and rough from age. “I know that what you have for the Blade is gratitude for rescuing you and that here you only feel pressured into trying to force yourself to trust us. What I’m trying to say is it’s alright, I’m not rushing you, okay?” 

“Yes sir. I’ll try my best.” Keith calms down a bit, but still feels guilty for not being able to trust them. He wants to, but he can’t. Maybe Alfor is right. He’s trying too hard and should let time heal his wounds and build trust. 

“Shiro once told me something before. We had just watched Lance pull off a perfect record for the sniper position. We were amazed with his talent. He told me, ‘Patience yields focus’. So be a bit more patient with your matters of trust and the outcome will reveal itself.” 

Keith nods. 

“That is all, I just wanted to remind you that your issues come before your mission here, alright?” 

“Yes sir, I understand.” 

The two share a nod and depart from each other. 

Keith thinks as he walks towards the main kitchen. ‘He’s right. Forcing myself to trust them isn’t how I should go about this, trust needs to come naturally. I just hope that it comes quickly. This alliance is part of my gratitude to the Blade, I hope I can learn to trust again soon.’ Keith continues thinking, but is pulled, quite literally, out of his thoughts when he is suddenly jerked into one of the dark hallways. 

Whoever grabbed him is currently pinning him to the metal wall. Keith tries to focus his vision after hitting his head when he had been shoved against the wall. His vision finally focuses on the guy. 

He has light coloured hair and dark eyes. 

“If you can’t even protect yourself from fellow members, then why the hell did you get trusted with protecting the second heir?” 

That voice… It’s one of the voices from earlier. This was the guy who had the most hostility towards him. Keith just glares at him. 

“Ohh, tough guy. Yeah, you go ahead and glare at me with your bad self. Just remember who is pinning whom right now, Kogane.” The voice is dripping with venom. “I’m going to say this once and only once. Watch your back.” The guy glares at him with a burning hatred in his eyes, a fire that only seems to be growing by the second. After a moment Keith can feel his hostility heighten and the guy spits at him then drops him to the ground as he walks off. Keith glares at him as he leaves and wipes the spit off his face. He stands up and makes his way back towards the main kitchen. He turns a few corners and finds Lance leaning against a wall, humming. 

Keith walks over to him and Lance smiles when he sees Keith. 

“Keith!” Lance sprints over to meet him, but his expression becomes worried. “Keith is something wrong?” 

“No… Just have a headache, that’s all.” Keith smiles weakly. It wasn’t a total lie. After his head had impacted the metal wall from when that guy pinned him against it, his head started to hurt. 

Lance becomes more worried. “Do you want to sit down? Are you hungry?” 

“Sure.” 

Lance takes Keith gently by his elbows and leads him to one of the tables. 

‘The main kitchen is huge…’ Keith looks around slowly. About a quarter of the room is the actual kitchen and the rest is just various tables and chairs. 

Lance helps Keith sit down in one of the chairs. 

“Is there anything in particular you want?” Lance talks quietly. 

Keith shakes his head. “As long as it isn’t anything dairy related. Hmm. Wait. Could I have green tea and a couple slices of bread?” 

“Are you sure that’s all you want?” Lance rubs a few circles into Keith’s back. 

Keith nods as he leans his head back. ‘I’m sitting at a booth. Huh.’ Keith watches Lance walk to the kitchen as he curls up against the back of the booth. A wave of pain courses through Keith’s head and he squeezes his eyes shut and sighs. 

After a few moments he hears footsteps and he stiffens up and quickly looks around. He regrets making really quick movements as more waves of pain crash into him. 

“Keith, slow down. Don’t push yourself too quickly.” Lance quietly places down the tray and reaches over to slowly to massage Keith’s head. Keith leans into Lance’s touch. The pressure of Lance’s cool and tender touch. Keith gives out a low hum. Lance sits in Keith’s booth and Keith leans into his chest. 

Lance continues to massage Keith’s head slowly. “Keith,” Lance whispers into Keith’s ear quietly. 

“Hnmm?” Keith hums into Lance’s jacket. 

“C’mon, you need to get something on your stomach. Okay?” 

“Fine.” Keith sits up slowly and opens his eyes. Once Keith adjusts to the lights again he looks over at the bread and tea. As he eats, he looks around the room and then stops at two similar faces; he recognizes the shorter one. They’re whispering to each other as they point. 

“Hey Lance, who’s that with Pidge? And why are they staring at us?” Keith finishes his last piece of bread and begins to sip on his tea, trying to keep his headache down. 

“That would be Pidge’s older brother, Matt. They’re both from the Olkari bloodlines. Pidge and Mrs. Holt, the sibling Holts’ mother, had been sent here to help around indefinitely as part of the peace pact we made with the Olkari. They haven’t seen each other in a few months. Matt came in yesterday to help around voluntarily.” Lance explains. “As to why they’re staring, I have no idea, but I have the feeling we really don’t want to find out…” 

Keith gives out a hum in agreement as he finishes his drink. “I think I should get some medicine before I pass out.” 

“Wha- Okay.” Lance stands out quickly and helps Keith up. “Don’t move too quickly. Do you want me to carry you? You’re kind of swaying, like you’re about to fall fowa-” 

Before Lance can finish his statement, Keith falls forward into Lance’s arms. 

“Hmm, fuck it. Yeah. Please.” Keith scrunches his eyes shut and presses his hands strongly to his forehead and eye sockets. “It hurts.” 

Lance picks Keith up and rests Keith’s head to his chest. Lance is halfway to the med bay when Keith suddenly wraps his arms around Lance’s neck tightly and nuzzles his head into Lance. Lance feels something wet drip down his neck. 

“Lance,” Keith gasps out, “it hurts. It hurts.” Lance can feel Keith crying. Lance runs faster through the halls. Lance runs into the med bay.

“Mrs. Holt,” Lance breathes out, “I think he has a migraine.” 

Mrs. Holt rushes over and helps Lance place Keith down on one of the bed. 

“Keith, Keith dear, look at me.” Mrs. Holt tries to get Keith’s attention as he struggles and groans. “Are you allergic to anything? Any meds?” She begins to check Keith’s eyes for dilation. 

Keith grunts out a painful, “No. But...” Keith grasps Lance’s wrist and tugs it, hoping he remembers and gets the message. 

“But he is lactose intolerant if that has anything to do with the situation, and no he hasn’t had anything with anytype of dairy in it.” Lance doesn’t waste his time or breath. 

“Okay, Keith, on a scale of one to ten, could you rate your migraine?” Mrs. Holt grabs a needle and gets ready to grab which pain relief to treat the migraine. 

“Six? Seven?” Keith let's out another groan of pain. Mrs. Holt grabs Keith’s arm. Lance runs his fingers through Keith’s hair and massages his head. 

“Keith, I’m about to inject pain relief into you, alright?” Mrs. Holt wipes off a spot near a vein on Keith’s arm. 

“Just hurry, please.” Keith turns his head to the side and buries his head into the pillow. Lance moves Keith’s hand from his wrist to his own hand. Keith’s grip tightens as tears fall into the pillow. 

Mrs. Holt finishes the injection and places a bandage on the spot. Relief flows through Keith and the headache immediately starts to dissolve. Keith’s grip on Lance’s hand lightens. 

“Okay, it’s over now dear. What I just gave you should last you the rest of the day. I want to run a few tests to see what could have caused it.” Mrs. Holt begins. Keith visibly stiffens. “Lance, step out into the hall for a few moments while I go over this.” 

“But-” 

“No ‘buts’ Lance, I’ll call you back in when I’m done. Shut the door on your way out.” 

Lance nods and gives Keith one more look before leaving the room. 

Mrs. Holt looks to Keith. “ Sit up, please.” Keith does as told and she feels the back of Keith’s head. He flinches. “Yep. There we are. Keith, what happened.” 

“...Someone may or may not have shoved me hostily against a metal wall. Please don’t tell Lance.” Keith looks down at his hands. 

Mrs. Holt sighs. “I won’t as long as you promise not to get into that situation with whoever had done it.” Mrs. Holt scans the bump with a blue scanner to check for any major injury and damage that could have been done internally. “The blue scan is clean. Everything should be fine. If the swelling doesn’t go down in the next few days, please come back so I can do a few more examinations.” She goes to a cabinet and grabs something from it. “Here,” she hands him a small package of pills, “Take these tomorrow morning after waking up so your head won’t start hurting and you’ll be fine for the ball.” 

“Thank you Mrs. Holt.” Keith smiles slightly. 

“Of course dear,” she smiles back, “just please be careful, okay?” 

“Yes Mam.” 

Keith stands up and walks to the door. As soon as he opens it, Lance comes running in in a panic. 

“Is he alright?! Oh. Hi Keith, how are you feeling?” 

Keith chuckles. “Way better than I did.” 

Mrs. Holt gives a small giggle. “Okay boys, go have fun. You need to finish preparations, remember?” 

“Oh yeah! Come on Keith, we still need to go do finishing adjustments for tomorrow’s clothing.” 

Keith follows Lance out the door and Mrs. Holt smiles. Once out of ear sight, Mrs. Holt hums. “Young and in love, as well as so ever oblivious. Reminds me of my husband and how Alfor used to be with me and…” Mrs. Holt trails off. “Oh memories.” Mrs. Holt is left to reminisce in memories from when she was younger. 

 

Keith and Lance stay still as some finishing touches get sewn onto their clothing. 

“I can't wait for tomorrow night! They'll be so many alliances meeting under one roof just to hang out, ya know? No diplomatic meetings, just a bunch of people gathering to talk and dance.” Lance has a bit more trouble staying still than Keith does. 

“Talking and dancing? Do we have to dance?” Keith asks. He doesn't want to tell Lance, but Keith has never danced before. 

“Of course we have to dance, Mullet, what would a ball be without dancing? Do you have a problem with dancing?”

“No. I'm just saying that we should be on guard. With the Alteans and all of its alliances under the Olkari roof, there will most certainly a chance of one of our enemies planning an attack.” Keith does mean this. There's no doubt in his mind that the Galra or the Valiean or someone else will attempt to get rid of the leaders of all their rivals and enemies at once. This ball would be the perfect opportunity. 

“There's no need to worry, it'll be heavily guarded. No one planning to attack will be able to come within a hundred miles of the place.” Lance waves off Keith's concerns, but Keith is still worried. 

“Lance.” Shiro walks into view with a data pad. “You’re scheduled to perform a song tomorrow night. And please, for the love of the stars, don’t do ‘Gasolina’ again, besides, Pidge said that there’s no way you’ll be able to get her as your backup vocals in it and Hunk said if you were ever his friend once throughout all these years, that you would not pull your puppy dog eyes and guilt him into doing it.” Shiro looks up to Lance in the eyes. “Please sing something appropriate.” 

Lance let's out a long sigh. “Fiiiiiiiiiine.” He rolls his eyes. “Now I gotta find a different song and someone willing to sing with me.” Lance stares off into space as Shiro walks away and then you can literally see the light bulb turn on behind his eyes. “Hey there Keiiiiith.” Lance leans over onto Keith’s shoulder as the tailor working on his dress clothes mutters a few curses and moves along side him. 

“Hn?” Keith gets pulled out of his thoughts and turns to Lance. He hadn’t been paying any attention to the previous conversation. 

“Tomorrow night I’m going to be singing a song at the ball. Want to be of assistance?” Lance smirks. 

“Uh, uhmm. Well. Er…” Keith doesn’t want to turn Lance down and make him upset, but he also doesn’t want to have to sing in front a huge group of people. Maybe he should just lie and say he can’t sing? No, knowing Lance, he would say he would teach Keith how to sing. “Do I have to?” Keith shifts uncomfortably. 

“What? You afraid that I’ll sing better than you?” Lance smirks again, he has Keith now. 

“What? No! Of course not! I’d be willing to bet my vocals are better than yours.” Keith growls. 

“Oh yeah? How about we prove that tomorrow night at the ball, Pretty Boy.” 

“You’re on, Candy Ass.” Keith crosses his arms and turns his head away from Lance. ‘Oh fuck. Dammit, Lance!’ Keith thinks to himself. He can hear Lance snicker. 

 

After finishing preparations, everyone has dinner and turns in early. Lance and Keith repeat the shower process from the day before, Keith was a bit more calm from having already done it. 

Lance finishes rubbing the herbal medicine into Keith's wound and gives it another tender kiss. Before he moves to turn the shower off, Keith’s shoulder catches his attention. “Keith, you have a lot of tension building up near the laceration.” Lance examines Keith’s shoulder. 

“Probably from standing still most of the day.” Keith winces when but then relaxes at Lance’s pain-relieving touch. 

Lance rubs circles around the wound and tries to relieve the tension in Keith's shoulder. Keith leans his forehead against the shower wall. 

Keith gives the occasional groan or hum. He can feel his shoulder loosening up. They decide to leave the shower once the water starts becoming cool. 

Lance scrolls through songs after getting dressed. Lance lazily scrolls until one song catches his eyes. “Hey Keith!” 

“Hm?” Keith hums from the bathroom, brushing his teeth.

“You ever listened to Linkin Park before?” Lance asks. 

He can hear Keith half snort. “Lance, do you really doubt the fact that I have?” 

“Found a song for tomorrow. ‘Burn It Down’. We could switch singing every time the chorus changes. So you’ll sing a verse then I’ll sing a verse.” Lance looks over towards Keith. “Sound good?” 

Keith rinses his mouth out. “Yep.” 

The two finish getting ready for bed. Keith is already drifting between the boundary of reality and dreams in his bed when Lance finally finishes his skin care treatment. 

“I can't wait for tomorrow. It's going to be so much fun.” Lance climbs into his bed and looks over at Keith. 

“Hmmmmm. Ya know what sounds fun right now? Sleep.” Keith yawns and falls closer into sleep. “You should use it.” 

“Okay, okay.” Lance lays down and closes his eyes. He hears Keith doze off and focuses on his smooth and steady breathing. Lance soon falls asleep to the sound of Keith's quiet breathing and snores.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So let me know what you thought. Comment, leave a kudos, read my other shit, hit me up on my other medias. 
> 
> I'll go back and fix any errors later. But yeah, leave me your thoughts and chapter eleven will probably be up tonight or tomorrow night.


	11. The Ball of the Alliances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Altean meet up with their alliances for their yearly ball. This year, it is being hosted by the Olkari. Let's see what will pursue over the events of the gathering.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to get this out, it was supposed to be finished and posted a few days ago, but I got busy with school and really tired. So, here it is now.
> 
> I'll go back and fix any mistakes later. 
> 
> Ugh. my eyes hurt like hell.

Keith wakes up and opens his eyes. He focuses his vision and discovers that he is nose-to-nose with a sleeping Lance. Lance breathes out and mixes with his. Keith can count the freckles on Lance’s face. Lance’s lips are slightly parted. He processes the information and jumps backwards off the bed with a glowing face. 

He crashes to the floor and lets out an “ow”. Luckily, he didn't land on his shoulder or head. He just lays on the floor staring up at the ceiling for a few minutes. He dreads having to go to the ball. Yes, when Lance had asked if he had been to any balls before, he answered honestly. He had been to one with the blade. It was a formal ball. There was talking, but most of it wasn't for socializing. And now he has to sing. Keith groans to himself. He stands up and looks towards the clock. 

‘3:30’

Keith sighs and look over at Lance. Lance frowns and reaches out across the bed for the loss of his warmth. Keith rolls his eyes and climbs back into his side of the bed for a few more hours of sleep. He falls asleep rather quickly. 

 

Lance yawns and goes to sit up, but discovers that he can’t move. His chest is weighed down. He looks down and sees a sleeping Keith cuddling into him; they have their arms wrapped around each other and their legs are entangled. Lance smiles and watches his soft facial expressions. His lips look soft, but at the same time chapped. Like, is that even a thing??? Softly chapped lips? Or chapped soft lips? Lance decides to push the question aside in favour of enjoying this while he can. Keith’s lips are slightly parted as his breath passes in and out against Lance’s chest. Keith looks his age, his expression isn’t as firm or serious, it’s soft. Keith’s hair is a mess and looks extremely fluffy and just as much soft. Lance raises his hand and entangles his fingers into Keith’s hair. Lance just continues to smile as the sleeping Keith nuzzles into him. Lance closes his eyes and enjoys this moment as if he’ll never be able to again. He tightens his arms around Keith, bringing him in closer and not wanting to leave the comfortable position. 

After a while, Lance decides it’s time to check the clock to see when they have to be up and ready to leave for the long trip out of the area. 

‘6:30’ 

‘Fucking dammit, why must time be a thing? Can’t we just stay like this?’ Lance sighs inwardly as he untangles himself from Keith carefully and gets ready for the day with his usual routine. Then he gets dressed into the clothing that had been brought to their room during dinner the night before. After about thirty minutes of letting Keith sleep in, Lance walks over and sits on the edge of the bed. Lance gets an idea and smiles to himself knowing that it always takes Keith a few moments to comprehend what’s going on after waking up. 

Lance leans down and whispers to Keith, “Hey, Keith, it’s time to wake up.”

Keith groans and buries his face into the pillow. Lance smiles and blows softly into Keith’s ear. Keith rolls away from him and rubs his ear. He sits up tiredly and yawns. He looks around like a lost child and Lance has to hold back a laugh because that was honestly one of the cutest Keith moments to him. 

“It’s time to get up and ready mullet!” Lance jumps to his feet as the giddiness inside of him rises. 

He can hear Keith groan. He smiles as he helps the sleepy Keith out of bed and ready for the day. 

 

Once at the Olkari base, everyone is greeted at the door and then they slowly separate into the room full of allies. The room is dimly lit and music flows to every corner of the room. Lance brings Keith over to meet Rolo and Nyma. 

“Rolo, my dude! And Nyma! I have someone for you to meet!” Lance pushes his way through the crowd and tries his best not to hurt anyone while doing so. He pulls Keith out of the corner and over to the duo. 

They look over towards Lance and Keith. 

Rolo smiles and greets them. “Hey dudes! Sweet having you here.” 

Nyma just gives a hum. 

“So, my dad had hired a new bodyguard,” 

“New one? What happened to the old one?” Rolo asks. 

“You know,” Lance laughs, “the usual. Couldn’t handle me. Anyway, this is Keith!” Lance pulls Keith into their view. “He’s been my bodyguard for about a week and a half.” 

Keith blushes and crosses his arms across his chest. One of the many things Lance had added to their clothing, more like taken from it, is slits on the side that run to the center of the front and back, leaving the sides completely exposed. “Uhm. Hi,” Keith chokes out quietly. 

“He looks a bit young to be a bodyguard,” Nyma starts to circle Keith. “Isn’t he a bit inexperienced?” 

“I wouldn’t think so. He’s strong, fast, and has quick reflexes.” Lance rubs his nose. “Trust me, I would know.” 

“That’s not what I mean. As a bodyguard, one must be willing to give up their life for the one they’re protecting in a matter of seconds. He doesn’t seem like he’s very… How should I put this?” Nyma grasps Keith’s chin to have him look her in the eyes. “Trusting.” 

Lance remembers the conversation Keith and his father had a few days ago when Lance had dragged Keith to ask his father about the herbal tonic. 

‘Keith. Don’t worry. I trust you Keith. Take your time, after what happened, I know it’ll take you awhile to be able to do the same. It’s alright. No one’s rushing you, okay?’ 

Lance also recalls the conversation he had with Keith after the tickling session, ‘I don’t remember the last time I laughed so hard that my sides began to hurt,’ as well as the statement that Keith had let slip after the street slut had cornered him, ‘I didn’t want to have to relive a moment l-like that.’

Lance smiles. “Psssh, what are you talking about? Of course I trust Keith.”

“That’s not what I mean, Lance.” Nyma roughly let's go of Keith’s chin. Nyma growls, “What I’m saying is that I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. It’s his lack of trust that’s swirling around in his eyes.” Nyma crosses her arms and frowns. “I really think you should go to your father and request someone else.” Nyma talks as if Keith isn’t even there. Keith rubs his arm to the side and hangs his head. 

Lance frowns and crosses his arms. “Nyma, you don’t even know Keith.” 

“Yeah, Ny, I agree with Lance, you shouldn’t be too quick to make assumptions of others.” Rolo tries to defuse a fight before it begins. 

Nyma ignores him. “Lance, why are you being so stubborn about this? Two weeks ago, you would have done whatever I told you without another thought. Why now are you trying to get on every one of my nerves!” 

“I don’t know Nyma, why are you so hell bent on trying to get me to dispose of Keith?” 

Keith tries to speak up as he takes a step closer to Lance, but he is cut off by Nyma’s persistence. 

“I don’t have to know him to know that he isn’t going to trust anyone, it’s obvious by the way he holds himself.” 

Lance is about to argue back when he feels a small tug on his sleeve. He turns towards Keith who is getting rather uncomfortable. “Lance, can we just drop the subject? It’s not important and it’s not appropriate. This is a social gathering, so can we just,” Keith looks away from Lance’s gaze. “Could we just let her win the debate and defuse this quickly? People are going to start starin' if y’all get any louder.” 

Lance’s expression softens and he gently lifts Keith chin. “Thanks Keith, but I’m not just going to stand to the side as she tries to talk badly about you. Besides, this is me holding back.” 

Keith blushes at the thought that Lance is doing all this for him. “Okay, but can we just defuse the argument, please?” 

“Okay, mullet, will do.” 

Nyma is shaking with anger. This new bodyguard that obviously trusts no one is stealing all of Lance’s attention. The same attention that he had been giving her two weeks prior. No, this is much more than what he had been giving her. He had been dropping flirting pickup lines and trying to get all of her attention. With this, he’s not even trying and it’s like he doesn’t even notice that- Wait. That’s it. Lance is crushing on him and probably doesn’t even notice that he is. Nyma calms down and smirks to herself. She can still save this, she can still get the second heir of the Altea in the palm of her hand if she plays her cards right. 

“He’s right Lance,” three confused heads turn to Nyma, “we shouldn’t be arguing over something like this.” Nyma turns to Keith and looks him directly in the eyes. “Keith, I’m sorry for assuming things,” Nyma bows her head, “I don’t expect you to forgive me so easily after placing dirt upon your name.” 

Keith shifts uncomfortably. He knows she’s lying. She doesn’t mean one word that falls from her lips. He forces smiles and turns to Lance. “See Lance? Let’s just drop the subject. The air has been cleaned.” 

Lance relaxes and smiles. “Okay fine.” 

Rolo smiles as he throws his arms over Keith’s and Lance’s shoulders. “Great! Now that we’re all good and buddies again, how about we go grab some fruit punch or something?”

Keith nod in agreement and Lance begins to go on about some movie he had seen a few weeks ago. 

Nyma stays behind and her smile fades into a frown. She knows Keith is onto her, and she knows he doesn’t know exactly what. So good news, Keith doesn’t exactly know what she has planned and bad news, he’s going to be on guard all day and night until they leave. Okay, she can work with that. With how untrusting he is and with the fact that he’s working in the Altean Headquarters, he’s bound to have at least a few enemies there or at least someone who would want to destroy him. She walks off to find the guy she knows doesn’t trust someone who can’t trust him. 

 

“And I said to him, ‘Well, sorry that I was able to out shoot you on the program, but that’s no reason to go full Hulk on me,’ and after that he just gave me this confused look and didn’t speak to me for like a week. Guys, I swear, no one watches any of the Marvel or DC classics anymore.” Lance goes on about one of his stories to Rolo and Keith, the only two who happen to know the references he says half the time. 

Keith is only half listening, due to his nerves jittering and his guard high standing. He knows Nyma is most certainly planning something and he has no idea what and then there’s still the chances the Galra or the Valiean or someone else could possibly attack as well as the other fifty things that could go wrong during this Ball of the Allies. 

Rolo, on the other hand, is fully into the conversation. “I know right? But can we just agree that the DC comics were better than most of their movies and that the Marvel movies were better than most of their comics.” 

“Dude, definitely.” Lance agrees. “You know, we should do this more often. Once a year at a different base is fun and all, but I think we should start having a get together more often. I love seeing everyone just hang loose and talking about how things are instead of meeting most of the time just for diplomatic matters.” 

“Mhmm, totally. Hey, wasn’t it your mother who had started this tradition in the first place?” Rolo takes a sip of his punch. 

Lance laughs. “Yep. She had started this whole shebang plan when she was my age.” 

“Wow. She was able to get all the current allies at the time under one roof for just hanging out when she was seventeen?” Rolo is a bit surprised. 

“Yeah, you know, that’s why they called her the Miracle Worker. She had taken over the Altean H.Q. when her parents died on her sweet sixteenth. Within a year or being leader, she not only was able to make nine alliances to the Altean, but she was also able to defuse two wars before they began and she made everyone in the Alliance go from formality to causality. Within a year, she achieved so much on her own.” Lance smiles proudly. 

“Well dayumn.” Rolo gleams at Lance with amazement. 

Keith continues to scan over the sea of extravagant suits and elaborate dresses, all with unique designs. Faces, painted with joyful smiles and amazed eyes, interact with each other. Whether it’s through talking, dancing, or laughing. A type of soft feeling flutters in the bottom of Keith’s heart. He can barely recall when he last felt it before the blade.

Before the Altea. 

Before Lance. 

Keith wants to do nothing but enjoy the feelings that Lance makes him feel. He can't exactly explain what he feels, the emotions those feelings cause, but they feel entirely too similar to the ones that he had thought he had for… Keith shudders from the memories. Him. 

Keith's mind begins to travel through his past and he frowns as he crosses his arms across his chest. The ghost of what happened grazes his skin. Keith feels like he's about to vomit. 

“I’ll be right back,” Keith does his best to gulp down the rising feeling in his throat. 

Before Lance can say anything, Keith is already gone to search for a bathroom. 

He tries to get by people and groups and crowds. He starts to feel like he's suffocating. His breath becomes short and shallow, the edges of his vision become dark, and his head begins to spin. 

He hears a voice calling to him. 

“Keith?” 

Keith turns to see someone that looks like Pidge, only older and taller.

“Matt?” Keith asks. 

“Yeah. You're not looking too hot. Are you trying to find the bathroom?” Matt looks worried as he examines Keith. 

“Actually, yes. Could you show me where I could find one, please?” 

“Sure thing. Come, follow me.” Matt turns and begins to walk through the crowd, Keith following behind. 

As soon as the bathroom comes into view, Keith bolts towards it. 

Matt follows him in quickly, but he finds Keith in a stall, vomiting up anything that was in is system. Matt, not having the same strong stomach his family has, turns away feeling light headed himself. Matt leans against the wall and tries his best to choke out words. 

“H-hey, Keith? What's the matter? Did you eat something that just isn't agreeing with you?” 

Keith finishes emptying out his stomach and wipes his mouth in disgust. “No. Just remembering things I wish I couldn't.” He walks out of the stall and over to the sink to wash his mouth. 

“D-do you wanna talk about it?” Matt slowly looks back over. “Keith- oh my stars- Keith, you're crying.” 

Keith looks up into the mirror to meet his purplish-grey eyes spilling with tears. He quickly washed them away with cold water. “No. It's nothing. Please just forget what you saw.” Keith turns to Matt. “And if Lance asks, please, please, don't tell him.” 

Matt is skeptical, but agrees to Keith's wishes. If he's not ready to tell, Matt won't force him. “Okay, but are you going to tell someone soon?” 

Keith stays silent. 

“So that's a no?”

“I didn't say that.”

“So it's a yes?”

“I didn't say that either.” 

Matt gives a long sigh. This kid. “Keith. I will give you two weeks. Two weeks. Whatever is on your mind can't stay there.” Matt takes in a deep breath as he tries to calm his stomach. “I may not be able to stand the sight of blood and physical illness like my family can, but I did study psychology for a few years. If you don't tell someone within two weeks, I will come to you and you can talk it out with me, does that sound alright?” 

“...Okay. Fine. Just- just give me two weeks. I'm not ready to tell anyone yet.” Keith splashes some more water in his his eyes and reaches for the drying towels. 

“Is that you're not ready or that you don't want to tell?” Matt begins to stand on his own feet again. 

“...” Keith stares into the mirror mulling over Matt’s question. Is that he's not ready? No. It's been almost eight months. It's that he doesn't want to tell anyone. Who would want to tell that to anyone? What happened. Keith chokes down another gag. He has nothing left to vomit, he wish he did though.

“Okay, well. Just be sure to return once you're ready. I have a strong feeling Lance is worried.” Matt walks over and pats Keith on his back gently. “Just be sure to tell someone, okay? It isn't healthy keeping whatever's bothering you so badly bottled up…” Matt looks down then into Keith's reflection. “We're all here for you, alright? I'm not sure what happened to you before you had joined the Altea, but you have us now.” Matt rambles on and on. “There's me, Pidge, our parents, Shiro, Allura, Hunk, Coran, Alfor, Lance, and everyone else back at base. I know most of them are thick-skulled and won't always see eye to eye, but you do have some of us to fall back on, okay?” 

Keith nods. “Thanks, Matt.” 

“No problem, Keith.” Matt smiles gently and gets one from Keith in return. 

The two return to the ballroom and depart. Keith gets lost trying to find his way back to Lance. Maybe he should have asked Matt for help finding his way around. Keith still barely knows his way around the Altean H.Q., let alone the ballroom of an allies’ base. 

Keith continues to try and go around everyone so he doesn't accidentally bump into any of them. He suddenly feels someone's arm wrap around his back and onto his exposed hip. Keith tries to get out of the person’s grip, but it only tightens. 

“Now, now, let's not cause a scene, Kogane,” a familiar voice coos. 

Keith groans inwardly. “What do you want? Let go of me now.” 

The owner of the voice twirls Keith into his arms. “How about we dance? I just want to talk.” Dark eyes gleam with trouble. “We are on the same side and all. Might as well try and get along.” The guy that had threatened- or promised- Keith yesterday pulls Keith in closer in his arms as they step side to side. He leans closer to Keith’s ear and whispers to him. “You don't want to cause a scene in the middle of a peaceful gathering, now would you?”

Keith shudders and frowns. “Okay. Fine. But,” Keith accidentally steps on the guy’s foot, “I’m not much of a dancer, sorry.” 

The guy breathes in sharply. He smiles as he tries to keep in his aggression. “It's alright, Keith,” he tightens his vice grip on Keith’s hips and Keith pushes down a painful groan, “I’ll be the lead.” 

Keith tries his best to adjust to the pain, or at least work with it. “By the way, I never caught your name.”

“That's wonderful. I never pitched it.” 

Keith gives a small glare before giving a silent gasp from another harsh tightening grip. He leans his forehead on the guy's shoulder and gives his foot a rough stomp. “Oops.” 

The guy grimaces. “Zayre.” 

“What?” 

“My name, you moron. It's Zayre. Don't wear it out,” Zayre mumbles. 

Keith smirks. “Zayre. What a lovely name,” Keith says sarcastically. 

“Better than ‘Keith’.” 

“I think that's a matter of opinion.” Keith goes to laugh, but it's cut off by another whimper. Keith scowls and stomps on Zayre’s foot again. “Hurry up and tell me what you want from me. I have things to do. I don't have time to waste on you,” Keith whispers. 

Zayre fakes a painful smile. “What's the rush, Kitty Rose? You got a date or something?”

Keith growls. “No, but I-”

“Then I don't see the problem. Don't be so impatient. Let's just dance and get to know each other better, shall we?” 

“Zayre, you have five minutes.” Keith becomes uncomfortable as Zayre pulls Keith in closer. He winces as Zayre’s grip, somehow,grows tighter. 

“Five minutes is all I get?” Zayre laughs as he leans in closer to Keith's ear, his breath hitting right against it. “Let's talk. I have some problems I want settled.”

Keith frowns. These next five moments are going to be the longest five moments of his life. 

 

Rolo had left with a dance partner a few moments after Keith had rushed away. Keith looked like he was going to be sick. Lance wonders around the room, scanning for where Keith had disappeared to. 

“Hey, Lance.” 

Lance turns to find Nyma. 

“Oh. Hey Nyma. Uh, have you seen Keith?” Lance goes back to scanning the crowd. “I can't find him.” 

Nyma’s smile falters. “No. He probably found a dancing partner or something. It's unimportant. Besides, I have something to show you.” 

“Uhm. Do you think we have time to find Keith first? I want to make sure he's alright.” Lance is still trying to find him. 

“He's fine. What's going to happen to him? This is a peace gathering. We can find him after. This'll be real quick.” 

Lance flickers his attention between the ballroom and Nyma. “Okay… If you say so.” Lance hesitantly follows Nyma out of the room. 

Nyma grabs his hand and gently leads him through the halls eventually, the music from the ballroom can no longer be heard and the dimmed colourful lights have turned into the dim hall lights. They come to a stop in front of a door. 

“What's this?”

“You’ll just have to come and see.” Nyma smiles. 

The smile somehow makes him uncomfortable, but he follows Nyma into the room anyway. 

“It's kind of dark in here.” Lance hears the door shut and lights dim on. He looks around. “Nyma. This is a bedroom. What did you want to show me that was so important?” Lance feels arms wrap around him. He shivers from the contact and stiffens up. “Uhh. Nyma, what are you doing?” 

“You’ll see. I'll give you some fun away from the ballroom.” 

 

Keith walks around trying to find Lance. All Zayre did was waste his time. Keith refused to answer any of his questions. After a while, Zayre had pushed him into a dark corner, out of everyone's view. The actions that followed after made Keith confused if Zayre hated him or wanted to sleep with him. He was probably drunk. Before Zayre could really do much else, he had gotten a swift kick to the groin. Keith smiles at the memory of Zayre doubling over in pain. The fucker deserved it. 

Keith sees Nyma leading Lance out of the room. All types of flags start to wave in Keith’s mind. From the smile Nyma has to the gleam in her eyes to what happened earlier and over to how Lance isn't fully paying any attention to her and is instead scanning the crowd. 

Keith’s instincts kick into autopilot as he quickly weaves his way through the crowd. 

Once out of the ballroom, he runs down halls and gets himself lost. After coming to get another dead end, Keith groans from aggravation. He rubs his hips. Zayre's handprints left bruises. 

‘Patience yields focus.’ 

Keith breathes in, then out. He listens carefully. 

“What's this?”

Keith perks up. Lance. 

“You'll have to come and see.”

Keith starts to run. Nyma. 

He hears voices behind the doors. 

‘No. She isn't going to trap him. She isn't going to do to him what happened to me,’ Keith thinks quickly, but freezes upon what he hears next.

“Nyma, stop.” Keith can hear the firmness in Lance’s voice. 

“What? Why?” Nyma sounds offended. “Don't you want this? Don't you want me?” 

“No. I don't. Nyma,” Keith can hear Lance sigh, “you had your chance. After what happened last time we met together, it was obvious you weren't interested in me. I've lost interest in you.” 

“You didn't lose interest in me, your interest in me was stolen, wasn't it?!” 

“Nyma, it's over, what I tried for a few weeks ago isn't there.” Keith can hear footsteps getting closer. 

“Lance, wait!” 

“Goodbye, Nyma.” 

The door opens and Keith stands there, not knowing what to do. “Uhhh, Lance, I’m feeling better now.” Keith steps away and looks to the side awkwardly. 

Lance looks down at Keith and smiles. A fuming Nyma shoves Lance out and slams the door. Lance stumbles forward and ends up pressing Keith against the wall. 

Both of them start to glow. 

“Uhm. Er. Uhh.” Keith continues to try and form a sentence, refusing to look Lance in the eyes. 

Lance wants nothing more than to kiss Keith. He restrains himself and stands up straight. He helps Keith too, but stops when Keith winces. Lance is about to open his mouth when he sees Keith trying to hide something. Lance reaches down to move Keith's hands when he stops and looks back up at Keith. 

“Keith… Please? May I take a look, you're hurt.” 

Keith sighs and looks down the hall. He slowly moves his hands away from the bruises. 

Lance ghosts his hand over the bruises softly. “Who did this?” Lance whispers. 

“What?” 

“Who did this?” Lance raises his voice. He looks up at Keith who has started to try and sputter a few excuses. Lance becomes angry and gently tilts Keith's head up. “Keith. Who did this?” 

Lance’s voice is dangerously calm. Keith tries to find his voice. “I’m fine, Lance.” 

“Who did it?” Lance grips Keith's hands lightly and brings them to his chest. He calms down and looks at Keith again. “Please tell me. This is a peace gathering. There's not supposed to be any type of hostile behaviour.” Lance wraps an arm around Keith's mid section. “Tell me who did this to you Keith.” 

“It wasn't anyone from the other alliances, so it's fine, no one from the other alliances has anything against the Altea.” Keith explains quickly. He doesn't want any of the other alliances to be blamed for something that's between him and Zayre. “It's nothing, I’m fine. Please Lance? Can we deal with it later?” Keith grips onto Lance’s shirt and looks up with pleading eyes. 

Lance closes his eyes and let's out a sigh laced with aggravation. “Fine. But I will find out who hurt you.” 

Keith gives a slight smile. “Thanks Lance, and I already took care of it,” Keith assures him. ‘For now.’ Keith takes the red sash hanging across his chest and ties it gently around his waist to cover up the bruises. 

Lance gives Keith a smile. “Guess what.” 

“Hm?” Keith hums. 

“We have a duet in about ten minutes,” Lance points to a clock in the hallway. 

‘Fuck.’ Keith gives a halfhearted glare to Lance. “I still don't completely forgive you for tricking me into that.” 

Lance pouts. “Awww. Come on. Pwease?” 

Keith’s heart melts. “F-fuckin' Candy A-ass.”

“Pretty Boy~,” Lance blows gently into Keith's ear. 

Keith fights a smile. “Let's just go n' get this over with.” Keith plasters on a scowl. 

Lance smiles and takes Keith's hand to lead him to the stage in the ballroom. He’ll find out who hurt Keith later. For now, Lance is going to make Keith happy and enjoy himself. Lance becomes giddy and runs, dragging a giggling Keith behind him. 

The stage has just finished being set by the time the two make it behind the curtain. Keith begins to become hyper aware of his body. 

“Lance, do we really have to sing?” Keith begins to move his hands as he speaks. “I'm not exactly the best singer. What if I forget the words?” Keith begins to go on and on. 

Lance rolls his eyes and looks at Keith. “Keith.” Keith stops talking and looks up at Lance. “You'll be fine. Just pay attention to me and get lost in the music. Okay?” 

Keith nods slightly. He's only ever sung to himself before. He's never done it front of someone else. 

Lance turns on some of the stage effects and the music. The curtain starts to rise. He whispers to Keith, “Just like how he practiced this morning.” 

Keith takes a deep breath and stands behind Lance to face away from the sea of faces. He closes his eyes and wait for his verse. He holds the mic near his chest. 

Lance’s voice carries throughout the room. “The cycle repeated  
As explosions broke in the sky  
All that I needed  
Was the one thing that I couldn't find

And you were there at the turn,  
Waiting to let me know,” 

Keith sings the chorus with Lance as Lance takes hold of Keith's hand behind him and gives it a reassuring squeeze. “We're building it up  
To break it back down  
We're building it up  
To burn it down  
We can't wait  
To burn it to the ground.” 

Lance and Keith switch places, Keith now faces the crowd and Lance stands behind him facing the opposite way. 

Keith's voice doesn't skip a beat and stays content and even. “The colors conflicted  
As the flames climbed into the clouds  
I wanted to fix this  
But I couldn't stop from tearing it down

And you were there at the turn  
Caught in the burning glow  
And I was there at the turn  
Waiting to let you know,”

Lance’s voice gradually picks up to match Keith’s in the chorus. “We're building it up  
To break it back down  
We're building it up  
To burn it down  
We can't wait  
To burn it to the ground,” 

The two take turns singing the next couple of verses. 

Lance starts with, “You told me ‘yes’,” 

Keith goes on to, “you held me high,  
And I believed when you told that lie,” 

“I played soldier, you played king,  
And struck me down, when I kissed that ring,” Lance makes his way to facing the crowd. 

“You lost that right, to hold that crown  
I built you up, but you let me down,” Keith gets lost in the music and the warmth of Lance’s hand. 

“So when you fall, I'll take my turn  
And fan the flames  
As your blazes burn

And you were there at the turn,  
Waiting to let me know,” Lance continues to it his heart into the music. 

The two voices intertwine once more. “We’re building it up  
To break it back down  
We're building it up  
To burn it down  
We can't wait  
To burn it to the ground,”

Keith quiets down for Lance’s next verse. “When you fall, I'll take my turn  
And fan the flames  
As your blazes burn,” 

Keith takes over once more. “We can't wait  
To burn it to the ground,” 

“When you fall, I'll take my turn  
And fan the flames  
As your blazes burn,”

“We can't wait  
To burn it to the ground,” Keith’s voice stills. His grip on Lance’s hand tightens a bit as the song comes to the end. His gaze glosses over the sea of people. He gulps as the short pause feels like hours. 

Cheers and claps erupt through the room. Keith let's out a sigh of relief and Lance smiles from ear to ear as he wraps his arms around the back of Keith's neck and cheers along with the crowd. Keith looks over at Lance and smiles at Lance’s overly joyed expression. 

The two leave the stage as the dancing music picks back up. 

Lance smiles and turns to Keith. “Hey Keith,” Lance giggles and gets this silly gleam in his eyes. He bows and says, “Would you do me the honour of being my dance partner?” 

Keith glows and starts to stutter. “I- erm. W-well…” 

Lance frowns and gets worried. “Is something wrong Keith?” 

“No! No. I-it's just… I don't know how to dance.” Keith mumbles out. 

Lance smiles and pulls Keith into his arms. “That's alright. I'll teach you how to dance.” 

“O-okay.” Keith stumbles to keep up with Lance as he drags him to the dance floor. 

Lance stands up straight, pulling Keith in hand. Lance places one hand one under Keith’s arm and on his back, bringing the other out with Keith’s in it. “So you have no experience?” 

“Of course not.” Keith’s face continues to glow. “Not any real experience,” he adds as he remembers his ‘dancing’ from earlier.

“That’s alright, we’ll work with that.” Lance smiles down to Keith. “Stand up straight, chin up, feel the music flow through you, and don’t look down. And you know what? The right song just came on.” 

Keith takes a deep breath. 

‘Downtown we let it go  
Sunset high and our bodies low  
Blood rush in the hazy glow  
My hands, your bones,’ 

Keith does his best to keep up with Lance and not step on his feet. He can hear Lance chuckle. “What’s so funny?” 

“Who or what are you following?” 

“I’m trying to keep up with you!” 

“That’s the problem at the moment. Flow into the music, let it flow into you. If you try to follow your dance partner, your own beat will get thrown off.” Lance gives Keith a wink.

Keith let's out a few mumbles under his breath. 

“And stop dragging your feet.” Lance adds. 

‘Loose up we break the scene  
One step deep as you fall to me  
Heart clap, we skip a beat  
Count one, two, three,’

Keith is starting to feel a growing of lightness bubble within him. He let's his instincts take over. 

‘And don’t you stop the music  
Get into it  
Won’t you dance with me?’

The two spin around the floor, an audience grows around them. 

‘Find a place and lose it  
You can do it  
Won’t you dance with me?’

“You’re doing good.” Lance smiles as he pulls them both through the movements. 

“I’m just following your advice. It’s nothing big.” Keith looks at Lance’s chest, somehow unable to look him in the eyes. 

“Still, I’m impressed. You’re quick on your feet.” Lance moves them about the space given to them. 

By now, the entire room has gone silent to watch the two dance, neither of them seemed to notice, Keith learning to become lost in the music and Lance becoming lost with Keith. 

‘Move your feet and feel it in the space between  
You gotta give yourself a moment, let your body be  
We gotta lose it  
We gotta lose it,’ 

As the song continues, Keith decides to use this as a trust exercise. He closes his eyes slowly as he lets Lance guide him through the movements and himself lost into the melody. 

‘Your name I'll never know  
As we get down in the world below  
Caught up in an overflow  
My hands, your bones

Wide eyed, you look at me  
Set on fire in a silver dream  
Spin around you can feel the breeze  
Count one, two, three

And don’t you stop the music  
Get into it  
Won’t you dance with me?’ 

Everyone holds their breath, mesmerized by the two who have taken over the floor. They don’t move a muscle, afraid to ruin the magnificent air around them. Everyone watches, becoming spellbound by the flirt of blue and red. 

‘Make a spark, break the dark  
Find a light with me  
Who we are from the start  
Won't you dance with me?

Make a spark, break the dark  
Find a light with me  
Who we are chasing stars  
Won't you dance with me?  
Won't you dance with me?

And don't you stop the music  
Get into it  
Won't you dance with me?

Find a place and lose it  
You can do it  
Won't you dance with me?’

Lance pulls Keith in closer as the two pick up a faster pace. They’re not in the Olkari ballroom on a dance floor anymore. They’re wrapped in their own world, surrounded by stars. Lance smiles as he sees Keith’s face in a state of pure bliss. 

All too soon, the song comes to an end and everything is at a stand still. Lance steps back from Keith, still holding Keith’s hand in his. Keith gives Lance a confused look as Lance bows. Lance looks up at Keith and winks as he gives a kiss to the top of Keith’s hand. Keith’s face begins to glow. 

“Thank you for this dance, Kogane.” 

The room erupts once more into wavers of claps and cheers. Pidge taped the entire thing. 

 

The night is carried on, talking, dancing, laughing. Everyone continues to have a wonderful time into the hours of the night. 

Once it is time for the alliances to disperse, the groups of people say their goodbyes and return to their own bases.

Keith and Lance go through their usual routine silently, both too tired to use what’s left of their energy on trying to communicate. Keith, as usual, is the first one to crash into the softness of his pillow and fall asleep. 

Lance walks over and smiles lazily at the exhausted Keith. He climbs over to his side of the bed and brings Keith into his arms. 

Lance lays there for a while thinking. 

Throughout the night, Lance had heard a lot about his mother, just like he does every year. He just smiled through it all. 

‘Lance, your mother was amazing!’

‘Lance, did you know your mother was the one to…’

‘Lance, your mother was called The Miracle Worker for everything she was able to do.’ 

‘Lance, did you know you have your mother’s eyes?’ 

‘Haha! Lance, look at you! So much like your mother. I’m sure you’ll be able to continue the legend of The Miracle Worker, eh?’ 

His mother did this, his mother did that. Lance adores the person his mother was. Selfless, caring, never stopping for a second. From what he was told, she pulled off the impossible. Her alleged last miracle she had ever pulled off was him. Somehow, she was able to give birth to what was supposed to be an infant that wouldn’t live for more than a few days. No one knows how she did it, but no one ever will. As her final miracle, Lance has always been expected to be the carrier of her trait. 

Tears gather in Lance’s eyes. He’s not like his mother, she was amazing, awe-inspiring, bringing together alliances, defusing wars, level headed and completely in control at all times. She legitimately pulled off the impossible. He can barely pull off the possible. How was he supposed to be like her? 

Lance’s thoughts begin to overwhelm him, but the raging storm immediately quiets as Keith stirs in his sleep. Lance looks down at Keith and smiles. He buries himself into the warmth that is Keith. Right here, he doesn’t have to try and be who is mother was and better. Right here, he feels safe and comforted. 

‘I think I love him…’ Lance clutches Keith’s shirt. 

Lance goes through the stages of grief when falling in love within two minutes. 

‘I’m… in love with Keith? No, that can’t be.’ 

Keith cuddles into Lance’s warmth, wrapping his arms around Lance. 

Lance gulps. ‘That apparently can be.’ Lance stares up at the ceiling. He goes over all the little details. From Keith’s appearance to his personality to what he still doesn’t know about him. ‘Okay. I’m in love with him. I’ve accepted it. Now what?’ Lance decides he’s going to try and win Keith over. Lance won’t tell Keith directly until he’s certain Keith feels the same for him. If he tries to tell Keith his feelings before that point, then everything will be awkward and Lance doesn’t want anything to be awkward. 

Lance smiles as he plans on how to get Keith’s attention.

Eventually, sleep takes claim over Lance and he is drifted away into Keith’s warmth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what y'all thought. 
> 
>  
> 
> Leave a kudos if you liked it.
> 
> And, just to satisfy my curiosity of what thoughts of this would be from a mind who doesn't know what's going to happen, do you have any theories of what you think could happen? Any of what you think happened in the past? Humour me. 
> 
> Next chapter will be up (probably) within the next week. I also want to try(!) and get a few one-shots written and posted.


	12. Keith's Past Revealed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is awakened by a nightmare and Lance is able to calm him and pull him into a peaceful sleep. But he's had enough of Keith suffering alone. Lance asks his father to let Keith talk about what's on his mind. 
> 
> Just what happened to Keith?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry that this is late. I had gotten busy. But it's here now. So. Enjoy.

Lance wakes up in the middle of the night to the sound of whimpering. He rubs his eyes and looks over at Keith shivering. Lance feels Keith’s head. He’s not cold, he’s actually warm. Lance sits up in alarm. Keith has tears trailing down his face. He murmurs some type of nonsense. Keith’s sleep crescent words are mostly incoherent. Lance begins to wipe away Keith’s tears as he tries to figure out what he should do. Lance can feel Keith’s body temperature change dramatically. Keith’s breath hitches as he jolts awake in a cold sweat. He looks like he’s about to scream and like he doesn’t know where he is. His breathing is shallow and all colour has drained from his face, panic rises in his eyes.

“Keith, babe, what’s the matter?” Lance slowly rubs circles into Keith’s arm. 

Keith looks at Lance, wide-eyed. It looks like he’s trying to comprehend what’s happening. “L-Lance?” 

“Yes Keith?” Lance leans closer and worry washes over him. 

The tears start to run faster as Keith tackles Lance’s chest into an embrace. Lance’s back hits the wall harshly, but he doesn’t pay attention. He’s focused on the boy in his arms. Lance rubs circles into Keith’s back as the tears grow into sobs. 

“Shhh, it’s alright, I’m here. Nothing’s going to get you. You’re safe.” Lance begins to hum as Keith’s sobs begins to quiet down after awhile. Lance runs his fingers through Keith’s hair and pulls him closer to him. 

Keith curls up against Lance, his face buried into Lance’s chest and his fists full of Lance’s shirt. 

As Lance whispers soft things into Keith’s ear, he quickly starts going over anything that could have been a part of Keith’s nightmare. 

‘Okay, let’s go over what I know and what has happened,’ Lance begins to lists everything. 

Since day one, Keith has always been paranoid and on guard. More so than he probably needed to be for someone his age. Yes, it is his job, but being protective over the one he’s guarding and what it was that Keith had been doing was two different things. Keith seemed to carry many burdens. While protecting Lance, he seemed to be protecting himself as well, no matter who it was against. 

During training, Keith was the only one who seemed to try as hard as Lance did. Not that the others weren’t trying, it’s that the two were giving it everything they had until they were close to passing out. During the mandated mind melding sessions for bonding, Keith always had his thoughts on lockdown. His past was padlocked when Lance had tried to snoop. 

Keith is able to smell a lie a mile away. That’s not something most people just have as a teenager. 

When awake and on edge, Keith’s facial features are cold and his eyes are hard. Lance has noticed that more often. It’s only when Keith is upset, sleeping, or having fun that he looks his own age. 

Then there’s also the huge laceration that Keith mysteriously has had before joining the Altea. 

Keith hasn't had a decent side-aching laugh in a while. 

Keith has been through some type of shit. Lance wants to know what so he can comfort Keith. He is not emotionally stable. He has been having a few emotion bursts lately and doesn’t have any control over them. Keith has also been really spacey, something is occupying his thoughts. 

Keith had mysteriously gotten a spontaneous migraine the day of preparations. 

The way that Keith had begin to space out during the ball. He looked lost in his own thoughts and the colour slowly began to drain from his face. He looked like he suddenly got sick on whatever it was he had been thinking of. He ran off before Lance could say anything. Lance had gotten really worried. He had searched the dance floor of people for fifteen minutes before Nyma began to drag him away. 

And then there’s someone inside the H.Q. that doesn’t like Keith. Anger bubbles in the pit of Lance’s stomach as he thinks about the hand-shaped bruises that are on Keith’s hips. The look on Keith’s face when Lance went to look at them hurt. Keith had wanted to try and cover up the marks and not cause a scene. 

The same thing happened while Nyma had been talking down to him without even getting to know him. She looked at Keith like he was trash and all Keith was worried about was not causing a scene. She even said that Lance should just toss Keith to the side and get a new guard. And Keith told Lance to just let her keep thinking that he can’t be trusted. Lance refuses to just stand to the side. He will not stand for anything that happens to Keith. The only reason why Lance held back against Nyma was for the sake of their friendship in hopes that they could have moved past it. 

Lance gives a light kiss to the top of Keith’s head as he continues to calm him. ‘Maybe I could ask dad if he can allow Keith to tell about his past to me. Or anyone.’ Lance hears Keith snoring softly in his arms. The emotions from the nightmare probably tired him out. Lance lays Keith down and leaves the rooms quickly. 

His father is most likely preparing for the mission he has to leave for soon. Lance runs to his father’s study and knocks on the door. 

“Come in.”

Lance wastes no time. Bursting into the room, Lance runs straight to his father’s side. 

“Dad, whatever Keith’s past is, could you please allow him to share it?” 

“What is this all of a sudden?” 

“Keith…has looked stressed out lately and I want him to be able to talk about it, but every time I ask, he says it’s prohibited information,” Lance explains. 

Alfor thinks for a few moments, then sighs. “I will allow him to be able to tell his squadron, if he chooses. He will most likely go to you since he seems to put what little trust he does have into you. Just please do not push for answers. His trainer said that pushing him will most likely send him into fight or flight and that more often than not, he chooses to flee.” 

Lance gives his father a strong embrace. “Thank you!”

“Mhmm. I will tell him in the morning before I leave for my meeting with the Olkari and the Balmera.” Alfor shoos Lance out so he can finish getting ready. 

Lance quickly makes his way back to his room and slips back into bed. He wraps his arms protectively around Keith as he tries to will himself back to sleep. After a few hours, Lance is able to fall asleep again. 

 

Keith groggily opens his eyes and rubs them. He focuses his vision and attention. Lance has his arms hugging Keith protectively. Keith’s face begins to glow brightly. Their faces are inches apart. He can feels Lance’s soft breath hit his lips. 

It takes him about ten minutes, but slowly and carefully, Keith wiggles out of Lance’s hold. Keith walks to the bathroom to wash his face with cold water. He feels emotionally drained. 

He tries to recollect what happened last night. He knows that there was a short period of time when he was awake and and alert. He tries to remember the dreams he had and what happened in between. One dream was before the time of consciousness and the other after. 

The first one was not pleasant. He just can't remember if it was of his past or if it was about worries now. Was it of his father leaving him? Or was it of when he had put all of his trust into the wrong hands? Was it an event that could happen that was bred from his fears? Or something else? Was it of him failing to get the Altean to trust the Blade? Or a war breaking out between the Altean alliances and the Galra Empire? Was it of him failing to learn how to trust? Did Zayre find out who he is? Had he told everyone? And if he had told everyone, what were their reactions? Had the Altea hated him? Had they… Keith gulps and doesn't continue the thought. Or had Zayre only told his squadron? Had Shiro stopped talking to him? It was when he had been kidnapped by the Galra that he lost his arm. The blood that took his arm is the same blood that now walks around the Altean H.Q. Had Pidge glared at him every time they ran into each other in the halls? It was the Galra that had stole her father and her brother for a few years. The same kin that did horrible things to her family now sits across from her in the cafeteria. Had Hunk started reverting his trust? A descendant of the Galra, the ones who have done awful things to the people he knows and loves, now is living under the same roof as him and the Altea. Had Allura hated him? It was the Galra that had killed off half of the Altean blood lines and descendants. And now, a Galra was trying to get her to actually trust a group that allegedly claims to be working against the empire. To her, that would be suspicious on so many levels. Had Coran avoided Keith’s gaze? Coran’s brothers, sisters, and parents had died on a mission that was ambushed by the empire. Coran may not be one to blame Keith directly, but the fact that Keith is part Galra is something that wouldn't leave his mind. And Lance. What would Lance think? The files Keith had gone over said that the death of his mother wasn't completely understandable. Yes, she died giving birth to her son, but the complications of the pregnancy had been believed to be induced by a type of poison. One of the theories is that it was created by the Galra and given to her. It's the more likely chance that it was a Galra that caused the death of Lance’s mother. It was because of a Galra that Lance will never be able to meet his mother. It's because of the Galra that those around him are going through so much grief or had gone through it. It's the because of the Empire and their allies that there's so much violence and everyone's ready to jump of the edge they're swaying on and dive into an all out war. Would Lance hate him? Keith is Galra and he knows it. And he hasn't told him. Lance is putting his trust into a Galran. He has a Galran as a bodyguard and he shares a room with him and a bed- What would Lance think? He shares a bed with a Galra. 

Keith runs to the toilet and vomits as old thoughts resurface as new forms. Keith groans as he flushes the toilet and then walks over to the counter to wash his face and mouth a few times. 

“Keith? Are you alright?” 

Keith jumps then turns to Lance, a toothbrush hanging out of his mouth. Keith takes the toothbrush out and says, “Mornin’ Lance. Yeah, I'm fine. I think I may have eaten something bad last night though. How’d you sleep?” Keith turns back to the sink as he finishes brushing his teeth. What happened when he woke up last night? He knows he woke up, but he can’t remember what happened. 

“Keith, babe,” Lance says gently. 

The memories of last night hits Keith like a ton of bricks. After waking from nightmare, he broke down and Lance comforted him until Keith run out of emotional energy. Keith’s face glows lightly and he continues to pretend he doesn’t remember what happened until he can think of a way to confront it. 

“-eith. Keith, babe,” Lance reaches over to touch Keith’s shoulder lightly. Keith jumps out of his skin and turns his attention back to Lance. “You were spacing out.”

Keith rinses his mouth out with water and spits it into the running water. “Sorry, I was just thinkin’ of somethin’.” 

Lance smiles slightly. “Well, my dad has something he would like to tell you when you have a moment. Want to finish getting ready for the day before we leave to his study? He’s leaving on a mission today.”

“Yeah,” Keith nods, “let’s do that.” Keith tries to calm his nerves. He tries not to jump to conclusions about what it is that Alfor wants to see him about. 

 

“Keith, come over. Lance wait outside the door please.” Alfor waves Keith over.

Keith saunters over slowly. “You wanted to speak with me, sir?” 

“Yes. Keith, the burden you’re carrying upon your shoulders is a heavy one, and then with your history piling on top of your worries and fears, it’ll all send you crashing and causing your fall. If you ever feel like it’s too much to bear alone, or you need to get something off your chest, feel free to tell someone on your squadron. They would all be willing to listen. They want what’s best for you. I want you to take it slow. Like I said, you don’t need to force yourself.”

“Yes sir.” 

“And Keith.”

“Sir?” 

“The first step to recovery is acceptance. The next is letting yourself receive support.”

Keith let's Alfor’s words sink in before responding. “Thank you, sir.” Keith bows. 

“You may go, Keith.” 

The door closes and Alfor sighs. “It’s going to be a long road for him. The first steps are the hardest.” Alfor mutters to himself for a few moments. 

 

Keith and Lance walk down the halls, a heavy silence swimming around the two. Keith drowns in his own thoughts. 

‘Acceptance is the first step? I’m not in denial of what happened, so what could he mean by accepting it?’ Keith stares into space and almost walks into a wall. 

Lance pulls Keith back to the surface world. “Woah! Keith, careful, you almost ran into a wall.” 

“Oh, uh, thanks.” Keith scratches the back of his head. “Is there anything you want to do today?” 

“Actually, yeah. First, let's go to the kitchen and get some food. It’s a long way to where we’re going.” 

Keith nods and follows Lance to the kitchen.

 

“So, we’re going to town?” Keith stares at the fields surrounding the familiar dirt path. 

“Not exactly. We’re going to my hovercraft. It’s a few miles outside of town.” 

“To the floating cliffs?” Keith tilts his head. 

“Nah. We can go there another day. Today, we’re going to a place I stumbled upon a few years back. It just takes a while to get there.” 

Keith nods. 

As the two enter the town, Lance greets the townsfolk as always. He smiles and tells the good morning and asks them how they’ve been and how their families are doing. After a bit, the two make it to the other side of town and out to where Lance keeps his hovercraft. 

Lance hands Keith a helmet and has him hold onto him tightly. 

As the two speed down an abandoned twenty-first century highway, Keith’s mind wanders back to what Alfor had said. ‘The first step is acceptance… Maybe acceptance is more than just overcoming denial? I’m not in denial, so would it mean facing the thoughts of what happened instead of ignoring them? I don’t want to think about what happened, but that could be the problem. I don’t want to think about it. By doing that, I haven’t talked about it and it’s still bothering me. Acceptance is the first step to recovery… Accepting that I can’t ignore the past forever if I want to be able to trust again. But what if the same thing happens again?’ Keith’s heart drops to his stomach and it almost stops for a moment. ‘What if it does? But what if it doesn’t? If he had taught me anything, it’s that even the most kind can just be an act. They could seem like they care and be there for you, but all it’s for is to build you up just so they can watch you fall.’ Keith gulps. 

 

By the time the hovercraft finally slows to a stop, the sun is about to start setting. All around them are fields and hills that go on for miles. Every inch of the rolling hills are covered in tall grass and wildflowers of all colours. The clouds have a purple shade to them from the setting sun. 

Keith looks to the sun’s horizon, eyes wide. The sun begins to slowly disappear beyond the horizon, the orange star dimming in the west. Keith slowly turns his gaze to the east. In the west, the day’s final light sleeps, the world silences for a moment, like a still frame. To the east, the moon gives off the first light of the night. The sky turns dark and the stars awaken. 

“I wanted to show you this place before the first frost froze over the field… So, do you like it?” Lance scratches the back of his neck as he smiles slightly. 

Keith looks towards the dark skinned teen. A tear trails down his cheek. “I… I love it… Thanks Lance.” 

Lance frowns as he sees more tears begin to form in Keith’s eyes. “Keith? Are you-”

Keith steps forward and wraps his arms around Lance. “Thank you, Lance.” Keith begins to let out quiet sobs. 

Lance smiles and hugs Keith back. “No problem, Keith.” 

The two release the other from the embrace and lay down in the grass to watch the stars. They laugh and joke and talk for a few hours. After a while, a comfortable silence settles between the two. 

The silence begins to poke at Keith and awaken dormant thoughts. “Hey, Lance?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Do you-... Do you trust me?” 

“Yes. Of course I do.” 

“How?” 

“What?” Lance turns to Keith with a confused look. 

“How are you able to trust so easily? How can you just trust me to be able to make sure someone doesn’t try to assassinate you? How can you trust me with your life? How can you trust me when I don’t even know if I can trust myself?” 

Lance thinks for a minute. “I don’t know.” Lance turns back up to the stars. “Trust, it’s full of contradictions. Trust is handing someone a loaded gun and hoping they don’t shoot you. Trust is turning your back to someone and hoping they don’t stab you in the back. Trust is giving someone your heart and hoping they don’t break it. Trust is fragile these days. A few centuries back, you may not have been able to trust words, but you could trust actions. These days, even actions may not be able to be trustful. You just have to leap off a cliff and have faith that the other person will be the strong winds that lift you up.” Lance turns his attention to Keith after a few moments of no response. 

Keith’s eyes are glossed over in more tears. “Lance, do you mind if I spill my guts?” 

“Of course I don’t mind, Keith. You can tell me anything. I’m here for you.” Lance feels a warmth spread into his side. He glances over to see that Keith has buried his eyes into Lance’s shoulder. 

“Can you… Can you promise you won’t judge me for anything I tell you?” 

“Keith, I would never judge you. Okay, that may be a lie, that mullet is so outta style.” 

Keith giggles at Lance’s attempt to lighten his spirits. “Where do I begin? I guess I should start when the entire thing started going downhill. 

My father was always there for me. He and I got along happily even after illness took my ma from us. If anything, it brought us closer. We were all the other had, other than the ranch of course. But then one day, I don’t know what happened. He just… I woke up one morning and went to start my usually morning routine to start feedin’ everyone, and he walked in and told me to pack a bag. His voice was cold and hard and distant. For the first time, I was scared of my father. He had never treated me in such a way. I packed clothes and a picture of my ma, my pa, our cat, and I into a small bag along with a knife my ma had given me ‘fore she died. I waited for my pa in the old pick-up. He came out of the house and started the truck. He never once looked my way. I didn’t ask any questions ‘cause I was scared that he was angry with me and that askin’ questions would only anger him more. After a while of driving, we pulled into an abandoned warehouse. There were strange people who had yellow glowing eyes and their hair was purple. They had guns. My father told me to follow him up there and don’t put up a fight. Listen to whatever they tell me to do. I didn’t question him still. A man talked to my father. He had said something that I can’t remember, but I do remember that my father turned away from me as the man dragged me away. I had been taken away from the only family I ever thought I knew on my fourteenth birthday.” Keith takes in a shaky breath as he tries to force himself to continue. 

“They had all looked at me strangely as I had been taken to a strange place. All I knew is that I wasn’t going home. I was given a room with a bed and a night stand and a window. I locked myself up for a week and didn’t speak to anyone. The only person there that treated me with any kindness was a boy a few years older than me. His name was Lotor.” Keith says the name as he swallows the lump in his throat. “He visited me three times a day during the first week to bring me food and see how I was doing and such. After I finally decided to talk, it was when he walked in on me breaking down. The others just would have walked back out to leave me on my own or yell at me to shut up. But he ran to my side to comfort me. After I ran out of tears, I told him what happened before I got there and how it had hurt that my father just gave me away to complete strangers. Lotor comforted me and said that he would be there for me if I needed him. He told me that he cared about me. After a while, I had put my trust into him and told him everything. He listened to everything I had to say. He taught me how to read and write. He had me do small things for him, such as bring him something he needed or relief tension build up in his shoulders. We would do things for each other and he always treated me so kindly. I didn’t know what I thought about it. My guts always told me something was off, but I didn’t know what it meant. I decided to ask him about the off feeling and he told me it was love. I asked him how he was sure that’s what it was and he said, ‘Do you trust me?’ And of course my answer was yes. He told me then there’s only one way to find out if I love him. He continued to tell me all these different things about love and he read me romance stories and set everything up to make me believe I was in love with him. And I fell for it all. Every last word. On my fifteenth birthday, my first kiss was stolen by him. The feeling in my gut twisted my insides, but I ignored it and continued to submit to him and give him whatever he wanted. He told me he loved me and I believed him. So the twisting gut feeling was labeled as love because that’s what he wanted me to believe, so I believed it. After a couple months of cuddle sessions, he moved us onto make outs. The off feeling in my gut still nagged at me, but I ignored it again. A few months after… he said that I should sleep with him and I asked why, at this point, my gut instincts were telling me to say no, but I ignored them again. He told me that if I wanted to really be his lover, then I would do it. Me being the naïve person I was, agreed to it. We did it once. He was gentle and caring and loving, so I thought it was alright. Once turned into twice. Two times became three, three became four, four became five, and it kept happening until it was done on a regular basis.” Keith’s breath falters again. “One day, I went to ask him about something and he had given me this really harsh and cold reply, like I had done something wrong. Next thing I know, he was backing me into a corner and telling me that it was all a lie, none of it was real. That’s when I realized I should have listened to what my gut was trying to tell me. The feeling wasn’t love. Nothing in that relationship was love. Yes, everything said and done was what lovers would have said and done, but it wasn’t. I think the difference was that none of it was real, it was all based off of his manipulation. After that day, he would constantly remind me of how foolish I was to trust him and to think that we were actually in love. I… I didn't feel anything. He would continue to come into my room and-… He kept-” Keith jolts up and vomits over in a patch of grass. He wipes his mouth as tears run down his face. Every inch of where he touched feels wrong. Keith feels sick. 

Lance sits next to Keith and rubs circles into his back. Lance does his best to comfort Keith. It all makes sense now. The reason why he hasn’t laughed in so long, the statement of ‘relive’, the reason why he can’t bring himself to trust anyone. Lance has never even met this guy, and Lance is ready to make Lotor pay for what he did to Keith. That was wrong and sick and twisted. It almost makes Lance want to vomit knowing that people like Lotor live and do things like that. “Keith, are you alright?” Lance shuffles closer to try and hug Keith. 

Keith accepts Lance’s embrace and buries his face into Lance’s chest. A muffled. “Yeah,” sounds from Keith. Lance pulls Keith into his arms and runs his fingers through his hair. They stay like that for a couple hours before they go back to watching the stars. 

Keith has his head laying on Lance’s chest as he listens to Lance’s steady breathing. 

“Thank you, Lance.” 

“For what?” 

“For listening to me and comforting me.”

“Of course, Keith. What happened to you was twisted and fucked up. No one should ever have to go through something like that. It’s completely reasonable to have trust issues after that. It may be a while before you can trust again, but know that I’ll be here for you. I trust you.” 

Keith smiles and hugs Lance’s chest. “Thanks.” 

“It’s no problem Keith. Want to head back to the base? If we leave now, we may be able to get there before the sunrises.” 

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment your thoughts.  
> Leave a kudos if you liked it.  
> Share if you loved it. 
> 
> I'll update chapter 13 when I can. I will look for errors when I get the chance. 
> 
> *hands you a box of tissues and a lion stuffy*


	13. Anxiety, Broken Promises, and the Battlefield

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance return from the night out of shared feelings and bonding moments. 
> 
> Things are looking up, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> .....I am so sorry. 
> 
> Just. Tissues are required. 
> 
> And warning of heavy anxiety/ feelings of not being good enough.

Lance smiles as he carries Keith bridal style back to the H.Q. He had fallen asleep half way through town. 

The walk drags on longer than usual. ‘Probably because this time, I’m carrying someone,’ Lance tells himself. 

He greets the town’s early birds with smiles and ‘How do you do’s. 

“Good morrow, Lance!” One of the elders begin to walk aside Lance. 

“Heh, good morning Mr. Zeagar! How did you sleep?” Lance slows his pace to match with the old man’s, knowing that his back has had issues lately.

“I slept well. So,” Mr. Zeagar starts off, glancing at the sleeping teen in Lance’s arms, “did you two have fun last night?” Mr. Zeagar’s tone gives off implyingly. “It’s understandable, two young men and all that.” 

“Mr. Zeagar! Nothing of that sort happened last night,” Lance scolds his friend. “We went and talked as we star gazed.” 

“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” Mr. Zeagar raises an eyebrow. 

“Mr. Zeagar.” 

The old man lets out a deep, bellowing laugh. “I’m just picking on you kiddo. Humor me at least, I’m an old man with little entertainment.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Anything, tell me about the young lad. What’s he like?” 

Lance smiles softly. “He’s incredible. Oblivious as hell, but amazing.” 

“Ha, oblivious. Reminds me of a certain someone I know.” 

Lance goes on, not paying attention to whatever it was that was said. “He’s fast, agile, has quite a bit of strength. He’s always pulling cool stunts. We may not always see eye-to-eye and argue all the time, but he has this fiery personality, and it’s a fire that’s still growing. Since he’s moved in, his fire has grown. It’s been self-destructive at times, and seemed to have burned himself, but the fire continues to turn into this raging inferno. But the fire is beautiful, you can see so many colours as the flame dances, so many colours of Keith.” Lance smiles dreamily.

Mr. Zeagar chuckles. “You really like this guy, don’t you?” 

“Mhmm.” 

“Have you told him?” 

Lance’s smile falters. “Not yet.”

“You should, Lancey; don’t wait too long. By the time you’re done waiting, this fire may move on without you.” 

“Hn.”

“Well, I have to go, but really, don’t wait for the perfect moment, it will never come. Trust me, I made the mistake once.” The elder pats Lance on the back as he goes into a library.

Lance continues along the dirt path, Keith in his arms. 

‘Don’t wait too long. But I can’t rush in too soon. Keith is still healing wounds and treating scars. All I can do right now is be here for him and wait until I can tell him how I feel. Or should I really be so selfish? Fix him up just so I can claim him as mine? No. I’m not going to do that. I’ll let him decide what he wants to do. If he wants to be with me, I’ll be over joyed. But on the other hand, if Keith finds love in someone else or does not see himself having love for me, I am not going to be selfish and try to convince him otherwise. This is Keith’s life. He can decide what he wants to do and who he wants to be with.’ 

Lance blinks away a stray tear and breathes in raggedly. He straightens his posture as he continues uphill towards the base. 

Upon reaching the entrance, Lance is greeted by Shiro. 

“Oh. Hey Shiro. What’s up?” Lance stands in front of Shiro. 

“I received a message from your father. The mission we will have to go on in a few weeks. It has been moved up.” 

Lance’s body goes rigid. He thinks about the next battle with the Valiean. A frown laces onto his face. “How soon?” 

“Three days.” 

“What the hell?!” Lance yelps. “Why- How did this happen?!” 

Shiro pushes down the worries in his mind. “I’m not sure. Alfor said that the Olkari zeroed in on them and they’re moving much faster than originally planned. We have to start training as soon as possible. You and Keith go get some rest. Training will start at nine. It’s five right now.” 

Lance nods silently and enters the base. His legs begin to feel more like lead every step he takes. Lance, with great difficulty, carries Keith into their room and closes the door. He lays Keith down on his side of the bed and then climbs over him to lay on his own side. 

Lance looks towards Keith to try and steady his nerves. 

The Valiean have moved so quickly. They’re merciless and cold hearted. They’re agile and move along the shadows. What if one of them finds Lance and attacks him before he can maneuver his rifle fast enough? What if they get to Keith and Lance can’t protect him? What if they kill Allura? Or Shiro? Hunk? Pidge? Coran? His father? Images of everyone’s cold, motionless bodies fill through Lance’s mind. Lance takes hold of Keith’s hand. ‘It’s warm.’ Lance watches Keith’s chest rise and fall and he tries to mimic his calm breathing. More flashes of empty eyes enter his head. A flame full of colour dies to a flickering spark and is snuffed out. Lance’s attempt to calm down fails. Tears fill his eyes as hides his face into Keith’s chest. 

“Lance?” 

Lance’s heart drops slightly. 

“Lance, what’s wrong?” Keith’s voice is laced with worry. 

Lance swallows the lump in his throat. “T-the Valiean have started to move quicker than expected.” Lance turns his head to the side so Keith can hear him better. “They’re going to be here in three days.” 

Keith doesn’t respond. 

“Keith?” Lance tilts his head up to try and see Keith’s expression. 

Keith stares up at the ceiling, seemingly contemplating something. 

Lance feels Keith’s fingers start to run through his hair. He leans into the touch. 

After what seems for hours but was probably only a few short minutes, Keith speaks up. “We can win. Are Olkari coming? And the Balmeran?” 

“The Olkari will be returning with father and the Balmeran are on their way here right now.” Lance stays silent before speaking again. “Do you really think we can beat the Valiean?” 

“Yeah. The Altean are strong, united.” 

“Keith?” 

“Yeah?” 

“If too many start to team up on you, can you promise me you’ll run? Not try to take them all down by yourself?” Lance chokes down a shake in his voice. “Please?” 

“I promise.” 

A sigh of relief leaves Lance’s lips. 

“What time do they want us to report for training?”

“Nine.”

“It's five forty right now. Let's get a bit of rest, okay?” 

Lance nods and brings himself closer to Keith. Keith soon falls asleep, but Lance is unable to follow him into the void of sleep. His stomach is too busy knotting up and his mind refuses to let him forget about the images of everyone’s dead bodies that it had conjured up. Lance tells himself that he needs to get used to the feeling. It's going to happen eventually. Death itself is inevitable, always has been. And now, Death usually comes much sooner than it should. It’s part of the job of trying to set humanity back on it’s tracks. 

After WWIII two hundred years ago, the world had been left in rubble and ruin. War between the Western countries and the Eastern countries had broke out and the results were disastrous. Russia and the U.S. sent their nuclear bombs on each other and everyone was expecting the end of the world. But no, it wasn't the end. It was only the beginning of something much, much worse to come. 

The nuclear explosions were faulty and only knocked over cities and destroyed most wildlife, killing only two-thirds as many as originally calculated. The radiation genetically changed most who survived and where you lived factored into the genetic change you had gotten. That was two centuries ago. 

Today, what's left of civilization is divided. One hundred and sixty years ago, the people divided up into groups. Most formed their own Mafia or militia, others tried to rebuild what was lost. Two main groups were the Altea, covering most of Western Europe, and the Galra, domaining in eastern Russia. The southern part of the United States had been left untouched. Cities are gone, but the humans there didn't go through radiation. They are known as Pure Humans. 

The Mafia groups began to fight one another. Throughout decades of fighting, half of the Altea had been wiped out. The Altean Mafia remains, but turned to diplomats, seeking peace between the Mafias to preserve what is left of the dying planet and endangered species. To rebuild humanity; the humanity that had destroyed itself because of hatred and war. Make mends through love, care, and diplomacy.

The Altea are much weaker than how they used to be. Though supported by its allies, Lance fears that the Galra and their alliances are growing too powerful. Each mission is a greater risk to gain growth towards peace or losing loved ones, sometimes, perhaps even both. 

The Third World War may have ended long ago, but the fight is far from over. War is on the edge of falling upon the world once again. Lance doesn't know if the planet can handle another war. If the fighting continues, the Earth may crumble beneath their feet. It has been infected with an illness; the illness of humans losing humanity. War has been raged upon its ground too many times. The planet is old and frail. Even so far from the core, Lance can feel the fire from deep down dying. 

 

“Again!”

Keith wipes the sweat off of his brow and readies his stance. He runs into another fight with SparBot. 

The training room is full of the sounds of preparation before a battle. Both thunderous and silent gunshots, metallic clangs, labored breathing, furious determination, and troubled worries. The impending fight works up the nerves of everyone in the headquarters. Some people are able to calm themselves and focus on battle tactics, some still try to fight the storms brewing within, and others bend before the storm and give into their fears and doubts, self-destructing under the pressure to recompose themselves and focus afterwards on training. 

Lance does his best on focusing on the flying targets, while still hitting every one, he worries about his close combat skills, or rather, non-existent close combat skills. 

Hunk fires at the ground targets, think up of the terrain that the battle is estimated to be on. He thinks of escape routes, hiding places, and advantages along with disadvantages of the area. 

Pidge switches between fighting near by ground and floating targets. She goes over all the weak points that the Valiean have. 

Allura and Shiro spar with each other, in a common mindset of how they are going to lead their squadron. 

Coran studies everyone and takes notes for what needs improvement. Every once in awhile, offers a quick word of advice 

The training goes on with only a short break for lunch and a few for rehydration. 

 

Later in the dark of the night when everyone sleeps to start training in the early morning, Lance sneaks out to one of the training decks. 

He stares at a SparBot for awhile, a sword in hand and a promise in mind. He mutters an apology before activating SparBot. 

Lance trains for hours with no avail. His breathing grows heavy, limbs sore, and body aching for a break. The air in the room becomes thick, stifling, making it more difficult to breathe. Lance heaves as blood pours from various cuts and open wounds littering his body. He is coloured in blacks, blues, and purples. He regains posture and yells a battle cry as he mingles with SparBot in another fight of exchanged hits, Lance being the receiver most of the time. 

After painfully long hours of training into the night, Lance puts everything back in it’s spot and cleans up the mess. He leans against the wall as he makes his way back to his room. He pokes his head into the room to make sure Keith is still asleep. Seeing the coast clear, Lance sneaks over to the bathroom and locks the door. 

The first thing he does his rinse off the smell of sweat and blood, cleaning his wounds under the water with a few herbal medications he made. Once he’s sure he treated all his wounds, he turns the water off and dries off. He winces as he wraps bandages around him. 

He mutters a few curses upon realizing he forgot to grab some clothes before going into the bathroom. 

Quietly, he goes to the dresser in the bedroom and changes into clothes that cover most of his skin to avoid the problem of last time.

He walks over to the jointed beds and looks down at Keith. Lance can't stand the thought of losing him. Lance can’t protect Keith, or anyone else for that matter, if he can’t even figure out a way to protect himself. He climbs over to his side of the bed and tries to get some sleep. 

A few hours later as the sun’s light drips into the room, his attempts show fruitless. 

 

Keith and Lance go through another day of training, the entire time Keith feeling these strange thoughts of deja vu. 

At the end of the day, Keith confronts Lance about it. 

“Lance, are you alright?” Keith peers over to the Altean worriedly. 

“Yeah, just a bit stressed out,” Lance gives a weak grin, “I’ll be fine.” 

Something still feels horribly off. Has this happened before? Keith can’t stand when he can’t remember things like this. Things that are important, scratches at the edges of his mind and pokes and prods at his thoughts. 

Keith huffs as he continues to walk with Lance. 

 

Once Lance and Keith go through their usual routine, Lance smiles over to Keith. 

“The laceration is just about healed completely.” Lance finishes rubbing the medicine into the wound. “But dad is right, it’ll leave a scar.” 

Keith stares at the shower wall. “That doesn’t bother me much.” 

“Has it been causing you any pain lately? Aches? Sores?” 

“Not really.” Keith turns to face Lance. “Thank you, Lance.” 

Lance tilts his head, confused by the sudden gratitude. “For what?” 

“Looking after me. Even though it’s supposed to be the other way around, thanks for doing it.” 

“Heh. Keith, if I don’t watch your temperamental ass, who will?”

Keith growls. “Asshole, I was trying to-! Never mind. Forget it.” Keith turns away from the Altean and crosses his arms across his chest. 

Lance winces at Keith’s harsh tone. He’s about to say something but words catch in his throat and he realizes he doesn’t know what to say, so instead Lance says nothing as he shuts the water off and reaches for his towel. 

 

It doesn’t take long for Keith to fall asleep, he pushed his limit today. Lance had to force him to take a break to rehydrate at least four times. 

Lance, on the other hand, stares up at the ceiling, the silence of the room threatening to deafen him as his thoughts rage their own wars. After a while, he decides that training a second night in a row would be less deadly than holding the weight of the overbearing silence. 

The Valiean will be at the battle grounds tomorrow and he won’t be ready. He isn’t ready. Lance silently panics as he tries to block SparBot’s attacks. 

Lance begins stumbling backwards and loses his footing when SparBot knocks him off his feet. Lance hits the unforgiving mat harshly, knocking the air out of his lungs. Lance coughs as he tries to breathe again. 

Once he regains his breathing, rather painfully, he stares at the ceiling for hours. He can’t do this. Why can’t he do this? Why is this so fucking difficult for him? 

Lance screams out as he punches the mat, hot tears of frustration running down his face. He’s going to be useless as Allura’s second. He’s going to get everyone else killed. He can’t do this. 

Why is the world so fucked up? Why did humans have to disagree on everything? Why did humans have to hate each other instead at the very least try to get along? How had they not seen that their own planet, their one and only home, was suffering? Why do humans still fail to learn from the past? Why do humans still insist on tearing each other apart instead of trying to mend the problem? Why does Lance care?! 

Why does he care? Why? Why bother? 

Why try to defy one of the crucial meanings to human? Hatred courses through human blood. No matter what anyone tries to do, humans are always going to hate each other instead of love each other. Humans are always going to see something wrong with different, something wrong with opposing opinions. Humans always have. Humans always do. Humans always will. 

Lance continues to scream to silence as his throat begins to ache and become sore. 

Why can’t everyone just see that they’re all human? 

 

Lance tends to his wounds and recollects himself. Once he’s done treating his injuries, Lance wraps the wounds on his chest, back, and abdomen in cloth bandages. He covers the ones scattering up and down his arms with the same shower-n-battle-proof foundation that he had used when around Keith last night. He takes a medication to soothe his throat and give him his normal voice back. 

Lance gets dressed and walks out into the room flowing with morning light, the clouds out in the sky are still a golden colour from the rising sun. 

Lance walks out onto the balcony to watch the first lights of day. 

‘The town looks so small from up here,’ Lance thinks. 

In a distance, the town lies in a bed of trees as it begins to wake. The leaves gradient from reds to oranges to yellows and browns. The ones that are left begin to fall as the first freeze grows nearer. Once the colours of the remains of autumn reach an end, the rest is scarred remains of the dying planet. Almost no life is beyond the edges of the forest that surrounds the village. There are small spots of life trying to heal and come back in blotches across the damaged canvas, but they are all spread so far apart and are in so few numbers. Miles and miles away from one side of town are cliffs with endless falls, air currents that make it impossible to move into it and heavy fogs that make it unimaginable to know what’s on the other side. In the opposite direction land ends to a pitch dark sandy beach that meets a restless sea. 

“Lance.”

Lance turns to face Keith, who looks away as he does. “It's time to go, isn't it?” 

Keith nods. 

Lance heads back inside to put on his gear. 

 

Lance and his squadron cautiously tread their way through the ruins of an old city. The buildings are ready to crumble at any moment, the streets are filled with debris, and black smoke still lingers above the shattered city from almost two centuries ago. 

Shiro signals Lance to go to the top floor of one of the more stable buildings while Pidge follows. 

Hunk nervously takes in everything and watches for the slightest of disturbance. 

Keith is sent slightly more ahead to investigate for any Valiean fighters and swordsmen. 

Allura watches the road behind the group to check for any Valieans that may attack from behind. 

Shiro not only note of everything around and above him, but also keeps a tack to everything that everyone is doing, ready to move into action at the slightest hint towards danger. 

 

Throughout the city, Altean, Balmeran, and Olkari squadrons stride across the streets, deep under in the sewer systems, and high above jumping from rooftop to rooftop. 

Once Lance has entered the building safely, Pidge joins back with the group and keeps up her guard. 

The advances forwards are made in a mainly synchronized movement. 

Lance takes his position on the top floor near a window. Within only a few short moments, he hears the thunderous sounds of guns ricochet in between buildings. He swiftly maneuvers his rifle to shoot any Valiean on sight. Lance watches as several squadrons rush ahead. Inhaling and exhaling slowly, Lance lines up his rifle with incoming Valiean fighters. Lance tries his best to keep track on where his squadron his as he takes down the enemies, but loses count on them one by one until only Keith is in his line of vision. Lance blasts an enemy that tries to attack Keith from behind. Lance peers at Keith’s surroundings. 

‘What the quiznak is he doing? I know he can obviously see a group of four Valiean fighters closing in on him.’ Lance wants to scream to Keith to get out of there, but is silence for two reasons; he cannot afford to give up his spot of hiding and a deep fear cuts its way through his vocal cords. He instead begins to gun at the Valiean that are closing in on Keith. 

‘Now where is he going?!’ 

Keith circles around instead of advances ahead. 

‘Is he coming back this way? Why would he do that?’ 

Before Lance is able to find out, he feels a sharp pain in his left shoulder. 

Lance gasps in pain and rolls over to see who stabbed him. 

Standing towerly above him, a masked Valiean soldier. 

Lance snarls and kicks upwards to give himself more ground between the two. 

As predicted, the Valiean fighter backs off to avoid impact. 

Lance quickly jumps to his feet and pulls out a knife from his boot.

The two circle each other for a moment before engaging on the other in close combat. 

The Valiean fighter aims a kick for Lance’s head. 

Lance ducks and stirs forward with the knife and lands it into their knee cap. ‘I landed a hit!’ 

The fighter stumbles backwards in agony. They clutch their knee and begin to laugh. 

“Wh- What the hell are you laughing about?!” Lance takes a step back from the deranged Valiean. 

They spin their finger in the air and Lance slowly turns around. 

Filing into the room, six masked Valiean begin to surround Lance. Lance grimaces and puts his fists up for a fruitless attempt to protect himself. 

‘Dammit. Think Lance. What do I do? What can I do? I am severely outnumbered and out skilled. And at the looks of it, I am obviously out planned. I am being forced to rely on my almost non-existent close combat skills and I am alone. I’m not liking these odds. The more I list these facts, the closer the chance of me surviving dwindles to near zero percent.’ Lance scowls and tries to put pressure on his shoulder. Such horrid odds. 

Suddenly, one of the Valiean are cut down and bleeding on the ground. Lance looks to see his rescuer. 

Keith dashes forward and puts up an arm, blocking the openings to attack Lance. Keith backs them into a corner so there’s less of a chance of one of the fighters sneaking up and attacking Lance from behind. 

“K-Keith, What are you doing here?! Aren’t you supposed to be w-with the squadron?!” Lance is still taken aback from Keith sudden appearance in the room. 

All Lance receives in a low and territorial growl that Keith directs towards the Valiean. 

A few more Valiean enter into the room not long after Keith’s appearance. 

Now outnumbered eleven to two, Lance begins to try and convince Keith to leave. “Keith, we’re outnumbered, out skilled, and out planned. You need to get out of here before you get hurt.” 

Lance is given a side glare. He flinches from the violet daggered eyes. 

The Valiean close in on Keith, who still refuses to back down. Keith holds the short sword in front of him protectively. 

Keith meets them head on. He pounces on the nearest fighter, slashing across their throat. In a fluid movement, Keith does the same to four others that had been standing next to each other. 

Six down, one injured, five still standing. 

One tries to stab Keith’s back, but his instincts lead his blade through their heart. 

The next jumps at their chance while Keith’s short sword is buried into the chest of their fallen comrade to attack the Altean’s fighter. The Valiean lashes an attack to Keith’s right shoulder, reopening the healed wound. 

Keith mewls out from the throbbing discomfort and pulls his sword from the chest of the first to the next, slashing a wide and deep cut across their chest. Keith pulls another sword from its sheath and dashes forward to the next two fighters, both receiving a stab to the abdomen. 

The last one that is still able to stand rushes forward to attack Keith, but is stopped by Keith throwing a kick upwards to buy time to pull out his swords. 

Slashing their neck, Keith walks towards the one Lance had disabled beforehand. From fear of seeing the young fighter wipe out an entire team single-handedly, the Valiean panics and tries to drag their body away while waving a hand in surrender. They back up into a corner and Keith looks down at them with hardened eyes. The sound of a sword going through a skull sounds throughout the silenced room. 

Lance stares around the room in horror. Was this even the same Keith he had just been talking to under the stars only a few nights beforehand? 

Keith turns his deadly glare toward Lance. 

The Altean gulps down the knot growing in his throat. “K-Keith?” 

Keith stalks towards the sun-kissed teen, the sound of metal dropping to the floor twice as he gets closer. 

“K-Keith, are you alright? You’re hurt, your wound reopened. We need to treat it immediately.” Lance’s eyes gravitate toward the wound, but don’t leave Keith’s for long. The intensity of the other’s glare… It’s positively frightening. Lance realizes… This is the first time that Keith has even looked at him all day. Lance feels the solidness of the wall stop him from backing up anymore. “K-Keith?” 

Keith places his hand on the wall next to Lance’s head. “You broke your promise first.” 

Keith falls into Lance’s chest after uttering those five words. Lance wraps his arms around the younger one to keep him from falling. How did Keith find out about the training? Did he catch him sneaking back into their room that morning? 

Lance forgets about that when he feels something warm on his hand. Blood. Keith’s blood. Lance panics and presses onto his Voc Com. “Shiro?”

“Yes Lance?” Shiro’s voice fills into Lance’s ear. 

“Keith and I are injured, I’m taking the both of us back to H.Q., that alright?” 

“Yeah, just be careful. Don’t worry about us, okay?” 

“Okay. See you at base.” 

Lance picks Keith up and quickly makes his way out of the ruined city.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that night after both Keith and Lance have been treated for their injuries.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“That still doesn’t mean that you can just try and take on eleven people by yourself!” Lance is scolding Keith for not doing what he had promised him and fighting too many at once.

Lance and Keith have been yelling at each other and arguing for the past twenty minutes. 

“You would have probably gotten taken as a hostage and been tortured!” Keith holds his ground and glares up at Lance. 

“And you could have gotten killed, Kogane, fucking dead!” 

“Well, what about you, huh?! Sneaking out in the middle of the night and then coming back with bruises and gashes and cuts! And when asked, you lie right to my face even though it’s my job to make sure you don’t get hurt! How am I supposed to do that if you lie to me about what you’re doing behind my back?!” Frustrated tears run down Keith’s face, but he’s still glaring at the other. 

“Well, how are you supposed to do your job if you’re dead?! If I can’t even protect myself, how am I going to be able to protect you on the battlefield so you can stay alive long enough to stay with me?!” Searing droplets fall from ocean eyes, but the figure refuses to step down. 

The both of them yell until their throats give out, resulting in Keith leaving their room to go get cold water and Lance walking into the bathroom to wash his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo.....  
> Let me know what you thought! 
> 
> Please don't hate meeee.
> 
> It'll get better, I promise!  
> Just... not right now.
> 
> And did I make it clear enough as to why both sides are pissed off???


	14. Quakes and Trembles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance deal with the aftermath of their falling out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be completely honest, this chapter is just to fill space between two plot points, but I was able to write it so that it's still interesting and makes you want more, at least I hope so. It's what I'm aiming for anyway...

Keith seethes in a dying fire of rage as he downs a glass of icy water. 

‘He’s putting himself is unnecessary danger! He’s getting himself hurt and I still don’t know exactly how or why.’ Keith drinks more water as he tries to put together the facts. ‘Figuring out people’s reasoning has never been my strong suit, but let’s try to figure out what he’s doing and why.’

‘He walked in yesterday night bleeding and littered in bruises. Like he lost a fight, or multiple. Fighting… Losing… Practicing? No, Training! Lance has been training on his own? For how long? Days? Weeks? Months? Years? 

‘But why? Lance’s sharpshooting is the best I’ve ever seen. A marksman ability to which no other can even begin to compare to. Why would he need to practice one of his natural perfections? 

‘What is Lance so unsatisfied about that he loses reason to his own safety?’

“Hey Keithy Boy,” an unfortunately familiar voice cooes.

“Ugh. What do you want Zayre? I am in no mood to deal with your bull.” Keith pours another cup of cold water. He hadn't seen Zayre since he was heavily drunk at the Ball of the Alliances. 

“I see you're still as broody as ever.” Zayre smirks as he waltzes into the kitchen. 

Keith shoots him a glare. 

“I watched Lance rush your bloodied body up here and to the med bay. You had looked like you took a beating. How are you doing now?” Zayre straightens pots and pans on shelves. 

Keith watched the Altean closely from his seat on the counter. “Mrs. Holt patched all of my wounds and injuries.”

“Word around the base is that not only did you slay twelve Valiean that had ganged up on you and Lance, but you had also taken on four full teams on your way to do so. Impressive.” Zayre crosses his arms and leans against a wall, facing Keith. Zayre smiles, “You're quite the fighter, aren't you?”

“Zayre, cut it. You’ve never been this nice to me unless you were drunk. Even in your drunken state, you were flirting, not being nice. What do you want?” Keith musters the most poisonous glare he can. 

The smile that had been set upon Zayre’s face is overtaken with a grimace of utter revulsion. He marches across the kitchen to right in front of Keith. He slams he hands on either sides of his legs and leans into his ear. “There's something not adding up about your entire situation, Kogane. Your files are not in the Altean database, I know nothing about you. Where you were before being hired, your criminal background, what training you went under before arrival, and, hell, I don’t even know what you are. A quick glance and you appear to be a PH, but it has been discovered that affected humans genetics have more dominance over most nuclear-mutated genetics. And frankly, I don't trust you. I don't trust that you’re who you say you are, I don't trust you to sleep under the same roof as the remainder of the Altean people, and I most certainly do not trust you to protect the second heir.” 

Zayre begins to make his way across the kitchen. At the door, Zayre gives Keith a side glare, “If you're stumped as to why Lance is getting injured, I would suggest following him one night. Not that you’d actually do it though, since it is coming from me. I can see it in you. You don't trust me.” Zayre leaves Keith to himself. 

 

Lance walks to the balcony on the empty side of the base. He needs to breathe in some fresh air. 

“Lance?” 

The teenager turns to face the voicer. “Oh, hey Mrs. Holt. What are you doing on this side of the base?” 

“Getting some supplies from a storage room.” Mrs. Holt points down a hall littered with papers or the occasional crates. Many vacated rooms down that hall had been turned into storage units when the days of the Altean Conquering came to a halt. “There’s probably going to be quite a bit of injured once the rest return. What about you?” 

“I was just going to go get some fresh air on my mother’s balcony.” Lance points down farther into the current hall the two are in. 

“Heh. That balcony has always had the best view of the sea. Lance, you usually never go there unless you have something on your mind. Would you like to share?” 

“Nah, I’m good. I just need to go there to think clearly.” 

“I highly disagree with you, but the only way to get anything out of you is to let you come to me, so there really isn't any point in arguing.” Mrs. Holt grumbles about how Lance’s mother used to do the exact same thing. “I’ll make dinner for you and Keith. I’m sure you two haven’t eaten all day, have you?” Mrs. Holt sighs deeply. “I’ll tell Keith. I have the strongest feeling you two just had a falling out.” 

Lance gapes at Mrs. Holt in utter shock. 

“Yep. Well, I am not the best with giving advice because I, myself, barely survived my teenage years, forget being able to help others.” Mrs. Holt begins to ramble to herself as she shakes her head. “I’ll make your favourite. I promise I won’t try to feed you green goo.” 

Lance watches as Mrs. Holt navigates through the cluttered mess of a hallway to get to the medic supplies. He continues down his own hall until he reaches the balcony. 

The sounds of waves crashing into the shore fill the cold air. Bright light spills onto the water from the moon. Stars accompany it and spread a glow across the sky. Scattered along one side of the shore are large boulders that gradually turn into dusty sand. 

Lance tiredly crosses his arms and leans against the balcony. He stares out to the horizon, surrounded by a heavy silence, for a long time before trying to fight the thoughts brewing a storm in his mind. 

He wasn't strong enough to be in that fight. He merely stood against the wall as Keith put himself in danger for him. He couldn't even help Keith. Keith could have died and Lance couldn't even help him. That look in Keith’s eyes when he turned to him… Lance feels a chill run up his spine. 

Lance shakes the thought off. 

The others should be back daybreak, but that's if the battle ends quickly. The longest a fight had gone on against the Valiean is four days. When that happened-

The ground beneath Lance’s feet begins to quiver and shake. The longer it goes on, the more violent the tremor becomes. Lance grabs onto the railing to keep himself upright. The boulders along the shore crack and smash into each other, some falling into the water creating great waves and splashes. The water’s surface becomes unstable and uneven, the moon’s reflection becoming disturbed and disrupted. 

The quakes end as suddenly as they started. 

“That was the first time in a while that it's done that…” Lance thinks about how unstable the planet is becoming. How many more tremors until it all just falls apart? What will happen then? How soon will it be? How many more years are left? Is it even in years? Months? Weeks? Days? 

Lance gulps as he begins to feel the panic rise in him. 

There's no way of knowing how long is left until the entire planet just breaks apart. 

The air in his lungs lessen as it grows more difficult for him to breathe. 

Most of the more advanced tech that countries, scientists, and governments had been working on had been completely destroyed by the bombs. They can't use what they have now, it may do more harm than good to just go blindly sticking things into the planet that could literally crumble beneath their feet at any time. 

His heart rate begins to race and ring in his ears. 

A voice in the back of Lance’s mind tells him to just calm down before he works himself up again. 

Lance clutched the fabric that rests over his heart as he focuses on his breathing. 

Once Lance has calmed himself, he walks back inside, casting one final look to the stars and the moon hanging in the sky before closing the doors. 

 

Walking back into his room after eating, Lance sees that Keith’s bed had been moved back to its original spot. Lance’s heart drops the slightest. 

Had he stepped over the line? But Keith did as well. They had both stepped into unknown territory with no clue of what to do next. Both refuse to apologize and will stand their ground. But for how long? Who will be the first to crack?

Lance decides to lay down instead of asking questions with unknown answers. He lets the darkness of sleep surround him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, yes, I know. 
> 
> "Joel, this chapter is shorter then the other chapters so far." 
> 
> Yes. It is. I needed something to fill two plot points and this was that filler. I will get to work on chapter 15 soon after posting this one, so by the time you get to this note, I am probably already working on it.
> 
> If you liked the chapter, hit the kudos button if you haven't already.  
> If you loved the chapter, comment and maybe even share with your friends. (Guys, as a writer, I am always worried about your response.)  
> And if you want to know when a new chapter is released, or generally want to know when I write and post anything, you can follow me on my tumblr and hit "get notifications". 
> 
> I will be writing as much as I can possibly do between now and start of school. Over the course of the school year, once this story is completed, I plan on writing another Klance fic. It will most certainly be much longer than this one, but I'll get to the details of it later.


	15. After Panic, Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The base heals their members and allies, Alfor speaks to his people, and Keith struggles with words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One- my dears and darlings, I'm sorry I haven't updated in months.  
> Two- I will update as frequently as I can.  
> Three- Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Happy Holidays.  
> Four- Enjoy <3

Sounds of panic and distress fill the Altean Base. The uproar causes Keith to wake in a cold sweat. 

He jolts upwards and gazes across the room. Lance’s bed is a mess and the occupant wasn't laying in it. Keith had been sure to walk over to Lance to make sure that he was actually sleeping before attempting to sleep himself. 

Keith throws his covers aside as he rushes into the hallway to see what the anxious alarm is about. Medics and some of the Alteans that stayed behind are rushing injured fighters to the medical wing. 

He follows to see if Lance is in the med bay, bustling around to help as much as he can. Keith sprints down the familiar path way he had taken not long ago. A shiver goes down his spine as thoughts resurface. Keith comes to the conclusion that he really distastes med bays. He hopes that he doesn't see the ruins of a hospital someday. 

When he gets to the med bay, the sight before him is absolutely horrid. 

Alteans and Altean allies lie around the room most in a near death state. Most of them have yet to be treated due to the such overwhelming number of injured. 

The ones that were almost to death’s door are being treated hastily. They are the ones with swords embedded in their bodies- most probably bullets as well, considering those would be what got to them before any of them could even get into a close combat fight.

The medics rush around in a panic. 

After the near-death patients, the badly injured will be cared for. They have bullets lodged in random places. Many have deep slashes across their chests, backs, faces, and limbs. 

Then there are the ones who are stable and were probably the ones who carried everyone else back here for treatment. Very few have small gashes, some have larger surface cuts, many need stitches, and most have random assortments of injuries that have a temporary fix so they can help treat the worsley injured. 

Keith searches through the waves of the injured for Lance. He side steps out of people’s way, and he sees Lance once he’s to the edge of the room. 

Keith moves to make his way over to him out of joy of seeing him there- still breathing and helping people- but stops before even fully turning towards him. 

'We haven't interacted since our falling out. What if he's still mad at me and doesn't want to see me? What if what I had said was too much and I had hurt him? What would I say? What would I do? Should I wait until things have calmed down to talk to him?'

Before Keith can continue plunging himself deeper into a hole of questions, Mrs. Holt calls him over. 

“Keith! Assistance!” Mrs. Holt’s voice is in pure distress. Keith doesn't hesitate to rush over. “Do you know the basics of suturing?” Mrs. Holt is warping a soldier’s head who had probably taken a blunt. 

Keith shakes his head. “No ma’am.”

“What about sewing?” 

“Yes, I can do that.” 

“It's basically the same thing but with skin. Don't be too harsh,or you'll tear the skin. And don't go too deep.” Mrs. Holt looks at Keith. “Think you can do that?” She gestures to a suturing needle and thread on the table. 

“Yes ma’am.” Keith picks the two items and places the thread into the needle. 

“Thank goodness. We have a few dozen soldiers who need stitches. I don't have any medical personnel to spare. We need all the hands we can get. Go,” Mrs. Holt points to a wall of the room where soldiers are lined up, all with large cuts and wounds, “Clean up around the area and stitch them up. Once everything has calmed down, I'll fix them.”

Keith nods and hurried as Mrs. Holt moves onto the next patient. 

~~~

A few hours after sutures, Keith looks around the crowded room. Everyone is in less of a frenzy and most of the injured have been treated. Mrs. Holt hurries around the room fixing mistakes and tidying up rushed sutures and bandages. 

Standing tall among the injured, many wrapped wounds upon him, is Alfor. The room turns to him as the air around him grabs their attention. 

“Friends and allies, though we have fought a long battle that now lies behind us, we’ve still got a long fight ahead of us. We have lost some of our own, and their losses pain us all. Nevertheless, we shall persevere and fight more, as we have in the past, only this time with a little more wisdom, more strength, more spirit.” Alfor’s eyes glide from person to person as his speech continues, his words lifting the gloom hanging over them. 

Even though the Alteans and its allies came back victorious, the ones that were lost on the battlefield had still bled the spirit from them. Alfor knows this, he feels it within himself; knowing this, he stands tall in front of his allies, his companions, his friends and loved ones. He speaks his empathy and his own bleeding spirit, but he also speaks to inspire them and give them a renewed sense of motivation, to remind them of the reason why they are fighting so hard. 

Once Alfor finishes his speech, he begins to help Mrs. Holt with the injured. The ones who can still walk leave the room to continue their usual work. 

Keith feels a small wave of nausea before walking off to find Lance. Before he can leave the room, Alfor calls him over. 

“Keith, could you come over here a moment?” 

Keith pushes down a small jumble of panic and anxiety. “Sir?”

“Lance and I are leaving over the waters to go make treaties a few small groups. I want you to stay here and connect with the rest of your teammates.” 

Keith is about to voice his concerns about who will watch over Lance when Alfor raises his hand to quiet him. “Do not worry about Lance, I’ll keep an eye on him myself, he will actually be leading some of the treaties himself.” 

Keith nods. “I will do the best I can, sir.”

Alfor gives him a small smile and nod as he tells Keith he can carry on.

Keith gives a slight bow out of an old habit before stopping himself midway and leaving. 

Keith can feel the pulsing of blood as waves of pain through his head. He rubs his temple as he walks back to his bedroom to take a nap.

Upon walking into the room, he sees Lance packing a few changes of clothes and skincare products into a bag. 

Keith pushes himself to try and say something, anything. Words of inspiration, compliment his intellect and diplomacy skills, an apology for yelling at Lance and telling him that he didn’t mean half of the shit that spilled out of his mouth when they had argued. That he was just really worried about him. How that he knows it wasn’t his fault that he got cornered like that. That he didn’t blame Lance for his injures, it was his own fault. How he wants Lance to tell him what’s been bothering him. To tell Lance that he just wants to hear him say something. 

But instead, the jumble of words that Keith had tried pushing down to say something better fell from his lips. Keith said something that made him feel like an asshole and an idiot. 

“Hey, Lance, good luck.” 

‘Good luck?!’ Keith thinks. ‘That just makes it sound like I don’t really care and that I think he’s incompetent as a diplomat! What the hell Kogane?!’

“What was that?” Lance turns to Keith, not hearing what he had said. 

Blood rushes to Keith’s face and he looks away from the other and mutters under his breath. “It was nothing. Sorry…” Keith slowly crawls onto his bed and feels like he could die right there. He said the stupidest shit and then said nevermind when the other obviously didn’t hear him. Nevermind. ‘Again. What the actual hell Kogane?’ Keith groans as he dwells over that and buries his face into his pillow, trying again to see if it’s possible for him to suffocate himself. After a moment, of course, the natural instinct for air overcomes his body and he lifts his head and turns it to breathe in fresh air. Not long after, Keith’s headache tires him and he falls asleep. 

Lance raises an eyebrow to the other, confused, before returning to packing. ‘Maybe I should just apologize. As soon as I get back. But… I want the apology to be sincere, and it wouldn’t be if I did. Maybe try making up at least? I want my friend back… Would he accept my apology though? What I did was a bit fucked up, and I was the first to break my word. That had to have hurt him and his trust. Oh stars… His trust. Lance, why the fuck are you like this?’ Lance sighs heavily as he zips his bag. The sunkissed teen looks over to the sleeping one and smiles. 'He looks so calm when he’s asleep.'

Keith begins to mutter incoherent words and half sentences in his sleep, turning to face away from the wall and towards Lance. Clumps of his hair fall in his face and a small bit of drool pools onto his pillow. 

Lance smiles and walks to his bed before heading for the door. He gives the other a small kiss on the forehead and leaves, hoping the other stays safe while he’s gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked the chap, hit the kudos button if you haven't already.  
> Let me know what your thoughts are in the comments.  
> I'll let you guys know when the next chap is ready.

**Author's Note:**

> So let me know what you thought. Comments of any kind really do help.  
> Thank you for kudos and comments and bookmarks and subscriptions. I love you all. ☺️ Thank you my dears and darlings. Y'all are the reason why I wrote this fanfic and stay determined to see it through to the end, no matter how long it will take me in between life.


End file.
